Will luck stay with Loki Lads for final surge to £24k Tote Ten to Follow prize?

After four and a half months of battling, the destination of the £24,672.60 first prize for the 2023 Tote Ten to Follow competition will come down to a nail-biting finish in five key races at Ascot on Qipco British Champions Day that might make the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals seem dull.

Loki Lads9 have been in front only since the Arc triumph of Ace Impact, but the prize is now theirs to lose as they hold a lead of 32.16 points over Cap Juluca42, who heads the pursuing pack.

Both have Champions Day luminaries Paddington, Tahiyra, Mostahdaf and Inspiral in their squads, but Cap Juluca42 also has Sprint favourite Kinross and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes hopeful Chaldean to call on. 

The 2,000 Guineas winner was put in his place by Paddington in the St James’s Palace Stakes and was down the field when favourite for the Prix Jean Prat in July but would be a real game-changer if he were to bounce back after a break and produce a big Tote return.

That would bump up his points on top of 25 on offer for a Group 1 and a further 25 for success in a bonus race, with the Champion Stakes being the other event on the card with that allure.

The game’s early leader q3 has dropped to third but is the only one of the main players to have July Cup winner Shaquille onside for the Sprint, although Julie Camacho’s charge has to put a disastrous performance at Haydock behind him.

Godders, in fourth, has Long Distance Cup hope Coltrane as a differential and, with £4,112.10 on offer to the second and prizes down to tenth place, every position on the ladder will be hotly contested.

If Champion Stakes favourite Horizon Dore does the business then there will not be much whooping from Ten to Follow contestants as only 0.2 per cent of players saw his potential in the summer transfer market so few have have gathered the 40.80 points from successes in the Prix Dollar and Prix du Prince d’Orange even before Saturday’s possible bumper score.

The two Group 1 winners at Newmarket last weekend have plenty of post-race admirers but not many at the transfer stage as only 1.8 per cent of players picked up 27.64 points for City Of Troy’s Dewhurst romp, while 0.4 per cent gained 32.30 points from Ylang Ylang’s Fillies’ Mile success.

LATEST STANDINGS

LEADING HORSES
1 Auguste Rodin 35% of stables 164.31 points
2 Paddington 44.3% 158.88
3 Mostahdaf 11.4% 123.30
4 Shaquille 13.9% 117.10
5 Warm Heart 0.8% 102.90
6 Live In The Dream 0.5% 101.25
7 Triple Time 1.3% 92.50
8 Continuous 2% 85.45
9 Tahiyra 56.40% 80.72
10 Inspiral 23.6% 78.21

LEADING TEAMS
1 Loki Lads9 830.58 points
2 Cap Juluca42 798.42
3 q3 789.40
4 Godders 785.28
5 Loki Lads4 776.38
6 Uns56 775.92
7 Stan20 774.38
8 What would Buffy do?37 761.59
9 Me and Sarah Markham5 761.43
10 Robert Winchcole55 14 760.36

LEADER'S STABLE
Auguste Rodin 164.31 points
Paddington 158.88
Tahiyra 80.72
Inspiral 78.21
Highfield Princess 68.90
Hukum 59.60
Ace Impact 54.60
Mostahdaf 54.20
Savethelastdance 42.45
Emily Upjohn 42.25

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