Look beyond the bonus races to get an edge in the Tote Ten To Follow

We all know the tricks to winning the Tote Ten To Follow, but there are a couple of angles we can fall a little too deeply in love with. Do not sacrifice everything for the bonus races, and do not focus too much on April and May.

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A lot of the most popular selections have already run this season and loads of the others are declared this weekend. This is a recency bias. Take a longer view, while remembering that middle-distance three-year-olds can largely be added later.

Palace Pier is the most common pick of all and hard to argue with. He should mop up the best mile races at least until the three-year-olds get involved from Goodwood onwards. The popularity of Love, Lord North, Battaash and Stradivarius is similarly justified. In the case of the last-named, he has only one bonus race to aim for (Gold Cup) but with 20 points on offer for any Group 2 and 25 for a Group 1 means he should be a major contributor even so.

Battaash will not line up in the six-furlong bonus races and I have taken Art Power as my weapon of choice in that field. He remains with untapped potential at four having been hot-housed from novices to the Nunthorpe last summer.

For the Classics, remember the Irish and British versions are bonus races. For that reason, I can include St Mark's Basilica even though he will not run at Newmarket.

Van Gogh will run in the 2,000 Guineas, although he looked more of a Derby horse last year. Sending him to Newmarket is a vote of confidence and he can get the early points jump on High Definition, who is on three times as many lists.

For the fillies' Classics, Pretty Gorgeous has all the entries and the pedigree to suggest she will stay at least 1m2f. Finally, my wild card is Top Rank. That he could give weight away in the Doncaster Mile was impressive and even if he does not quite reach Group 1 standard there are ample minor Group races at a mile for him to accumulate points.

Keith Melrose's ten to follow

Art Power
Battaash
Lord North
Love
Palace Pier
Pretty Gorgeous
St Mark's Basilica
Stradivarius
Top Rank
Van Gogh

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