Matt Newman: Keep Thyme Hill on your side to clock up staying hurdle success

The big danger that accompanies the Tote Ten To Follow competition is the desire to show off. A common social media complaint with any list of horses to follow is that they are too obvious, but here simplicity is key.

Naturally, we want to be that one in a thousand who finds a handicapper who takes off, culminating in a Grade 1 win but it is a fool’s errand to quarry stone and expect to find a gem.

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The two highest point scorers last season were Honeysuckle and Shishkin. Both will be cornerstones of many teams once more, including mine. The winners of 21 of their 22 combined starts under rules, they should pick up a slew of bonus points.

From November’s Betfair Chase through to the Betway Bowl in April there are six bonus races for the three-mile Grade 1 chase division. A Plus Tard conclusively proved his stamina in the Gold Cup last season having landed the Savills Chase over Christmas at Leopardstown.

Henry de Bromhead’s seven-year-old looks set for another superb campaign, as does Allaho who also represents Cheveley Park Stud. A spectacular winner of the Ryanair Chase in March, he looks the perfect type for the King George before a return to the Cheltenham Festival.

Tom O’Brien has been riding with such confidence since winning the Liverpool Stayers Hurdle on Thyme Hill. The Philip Hobbs-trained stayer is at the top of the tree in his division and is taken to make up for the frustration of missing the festival.

How to play the Tote Ten To Follow

Two novice hurdlers from last season who can take high order over fences are Appreciate It and Bob Olinger. The latter looked a future star in the Lawlor’s of Naas Hurdle before confirming that impression in the Ballymore. Chasing could see him in an even better light, a scary thought for those who leave him out.

Appreciate It was given a similar plan of action in bumpers and over hurdles. Return in late November, then Leopardstown at Christmas and for the Dublin Racing Festival, and on to Cheltenham. Expect the same this season with Willie Mullins not afraid to run his novice chasers.

Farouk D’alene missed the festival and has not been out since a Grade 2 win at Limerick in December. He beat Vanillier that day, form given a shot in the arm when Gavin Cromwell’s charge landed the Albert Bartlett.

Bar a below-par run at Navan (nine days after being a non-runner as he was off his feed) Farouk D’alene has been progressive and looks capable of taking his chance at the top table.

There has to be a couple of slightly darker horses in a Tote Ten To Follow team. With the Ladbrokes Trophy and Welsh National being early season bonus races, finding one who looks well handicapped is tempting and Harry Fry’s Ask Me Early fits the bill.

Successful in three of his four starts over fences, a kissing spine was to blame at Sandown for his sole defeat. He is yet to go beyond three miles but the impression is that he is all about stamina and, with two of those wins coming at Chepstow, he looks the perfect type for both those handicaps.

Finally, the Nicky Henderson-trained I Am Maximus. Seen just once when winning a Cheltenham bumper, he is the only horse to get the better of My Drogo, who will be a popular choice in his own right. Form is rarely as linear as that and My Drogo improved hugely after that run but it was still a smart scalp to take.

MATT NEWMAN'S TEN TO FOLLOW
Allaho
A Plus Tard
Appreciate It
Ask Me Early
Bob Olinger
Farouk D’alene
Honeysuckle
I Am Maximus
Shishkin
Thyme Hill

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