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'Getting the right three-year-olds is key' - Scott Burton's reveals his list

Mythical showed a real change of gear before heavy ground got the better of him in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud
Mythical showed a real change of gear before heavy ground got the better of him in the Criterium de Saint-CloudCredit: Patrick McCann
For the first time since 2007, Aidan O'Brien didn't saddle a Group 1-winning two-year-old colt last season.

That's not to say Ballydoyle won't have a good year with their three-year-olds, although they may perhaps thrive over Derby distances rather than a mile.

Two colts who could take a step forward when upped in trip are Mythical, a rangy son of Camelot who ran better than his form figures suggest in the Zetland and the Criterium de Saint-Cloud, and Year Of The Tiger, who performed creditably in the Dewhurst and the Vertem Futurity and was only 1lb behind Innisfree on RPRs among O'Brien's juvenile sons of Galileo.

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Six of the first ten bonus races are restricted to three-year-olds and getting the right talent from the Classic generation in your line-up is crucial to success in the competition.

On that basis I'll also include proven Group 1 performers Albigna and Raffle Prize, as well as Queen Daenerys, who was pitched into stakes company earlier than is often the case by Roger Varian and was far from disgraced in the Fillies' Mile.

Leading the way among the older horses will be Ghaiyyath – it pays to remember his Prix d'Harcourt and Grosser Preis von Baden runs rather than his turn in the Arc – and Headman, who looked very good over ten furlongs last year but might also be interesting in what can sometimes be a weaker division over a mile.

Darling of Japan Deirdre looks set to be based in Newmarket for the foreseeable future and, if she can avoid too many encounters with Enable, has the ability to pick up another top prize.

The three Group 1 sprints among the bonus races are run on tracks requiring different skillsets, while Stradivarius only looks to have one bonus opportunity in the stayers' division, so I would rather use my last two picks for older horses in between those extremes of distance.

Fleeting doesn't need to improve much to cash in her string of placed efforts for a couple of wins, while King Of Change is still lightly raced for one with his impressive CV over a mile.

Scott Burton's Tote Ten To Follow list

Albigna
Deirdre
Fleeting
Ghaiyyath
Headman
King Of Change
Mythical
Queen Daenerys
Raffle Prize
Year Of The Tiger


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