Here are my five horses to follow this Flat season - including one who looks like Group 1 material

It's often said that the Flat racing season only really gets going at the Newmarket Guineas meeting this weekend. There's an element of truth in that but there have already been some really interesting performances and I've picked out five horses I believe will make their mark in top races before the year is out.

I make no excuses for including my old friend Almaqam after he ran third to Al Aasy in the Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown last Friday. Having backed him at around the 3-1 mark last week, I was a bit alarmed to see him drift in the market and things only got worse when I received a text from the track suggesting he hadn't missed one Sunday dinner in the whole of the winter.

Clearly his paddock appearance was the reason for his drift in the market but he belied that by running a cracker as he was just coming with a challenge when blocked off in the final furlong and he did well to recover into third.