Transfer window opens to shape Tote Ten to Follow festival teams

A month to go in the Tote Ten to Follow competition and it's time to get serious. There are seven bonus races at Cheltenham each offering 25 bonus points and then five more bonus races at Aintree, so now is the time to freshen up your team for the challenges ahead.

The transfer window opened on Monday and will remain ajar until 5pm next Monday, the eve of the festival. During that period, two substitutions per stable can be made, with horses scoring as soon as they enter your team. 

It's a chance to bench horses who have been sidelined by injury, to bring in some rising stars and to sniff out the less prominent ones who could make a crucial difference to your team. 

That's certainly what Mark Statton did when compiling his original lists back in November. The 62-year-old electronics and software test development engineer from Cardiff holds first and second place in the competition thanks to MyCatChip 20 and MyDogBambi 14 and has won the Flat competition three times in the last four years with teams labelled MyCatMeatball, MyCatChip and MyCatChance. 

On the eve of the deadline for the jumps competition we asked him to share his tactics and to pick his ten for the months ahead. His key selection appeared in only 2.1% of teams and is the one which has propelled him into the leading positions. His rivals can't say they weren't told.

"My final pick is a novice chaser from the Dan Skelton yard, L’Eau Du Sud," Statton said. "The likeable grey might have won last season’s County Hurdle if not making a meal of the final flight and the way he pushed aside more experienced chasers at Stratford [in his first novice chase] makes me think he could put together a sequence of wins."

L'Eau Du Sud has since been unbeaten in three runs, with victories at Cheltenham, Sandown and Warwick, and has contributed 71.12 points to Statton's teams.

The competition concludes at 7pm on Grand National day, April 5, and at stake is a £54,000 first prize, with £9,000 to the second and payments down to tenth place.

Latest standings

LEADING HORSES
1 Galopin Des Champs 61.3% of teams 106.66 points
2 Jonbon 73.2% 100.78
3 Solness 0% 95.00
4 Croke Park 0.1% 81.90
5 Handstands 0.1% 77.54
6 L'Eau Du Sud 2.1% 71.12
7 The Yellow Clay 0.5% 70.15
8 Home By The Lee 0.2% 61.78
9 Banbridge 6.3% 60.50
10 Brighterdaysahead 16.8% 59.45

LEADING TEAMS
1 MyCatChip 20 580.40
2 MyDogBambi 14 569.43
3 Remember 567.36
4 Ashley Banks 21 565.23
5 Famous Five 5 564.18
6 Remember Alderbrook 561.90
7 Chloe 2 561.71
8 b3 559.85
9 City Of Troy 230 558.02
10 Sam's champs 557.18

LEADER'S STABLE - MyCatChip 20 580.40 points
Galopin Des Champs 106.66
Jonbon 100.78
L'Eau Du Sud 71.12
Banbridge 60.50
State Man 54.65
Sir Gino 49.92
Constitution Hill 49.04
Fact To File 45.30
Ballyburn 39.93
Gaelic Warrior 2.50

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What's on this week: Sandown's Imperial Cup takes centre stage before declarations begin for the Cheltenham Festival 

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