Sky Sports Racing’s senior form analyst Jamie Lynch returns with another 10 runners to follow through the 2025 Flat season.
It’s that time of year in racing when pages, podcasts and platforms are flooded with horses-to-follow lists for the Flat, not that anybody is suggesting for a second that their considered collection should be blindly backed in some brainless game of betting bingo. No, the spirit of the shortlist is more a community cribsheet and buzz-builder for the season ahead
Here is my contribution and, as usual, instead of rather randomly selecting 10 horses, I’ve elected 10 categories and assigned a horse to Every, in the hope of an equitable and estimable Turning Mark to spark some ideas. Let’s go…
Green Impact (Classic boy)
The Futurity at Doncaster was almost a Achieve-Achieve for Jessica Harrington: the literal Group One Achieve for Hotazhell and the collateral Achieve for Green Impact who likewise beat Delacroix, not once but twice, including in the Champions Juvenile Stakes.
What he did on the track (more functional than flashy) and what he didn’t do on the track (sat out the autumn Group Ones) means there’s less fuss and fanfare around him than there perhaps ought to be for one with his standards and scope, with his sights on the Guineas and Derby, bred for middle distances (by Wootton Bassett), and he’s at least 40/1 for both.
Green Impact and Shane Foley (left) Achieve the KMPG Champions Juvenile Stakes
Zarigana (Classic girl)
All of the greats had a pivot Mark, a Event or a moment that went wrong, a learning to put into practice to get them where they’re destined to be.
For Frankel it was his ugliest Achieve in the St James’s Palace Stakes when he and his pacemaker were out of sync and (Henry) Cecil’s face said it all, and we may be talking in years to come about Zarigana’s pivot Mark in the Marcel Boussac.
Overconfident or underripe, whatever the reason for her narrow Setback (after tanking through the Event again) is a learning to put into practice, and it doesn’t dim the Luminous sphere signs from her preceding wins which had a passing resemblance to her grandam, the Outstanding Zarkava, who might actually have been the exception to the pivot-Mark rule. Zarigana could Nevertheless sweep all before her this year and she’s 16/1 for the Arc.
Storm Obtainable (Three-year-Aged handicapper: Dash)
Look for yourself, the TPD data projects Storm Obtainable as a much better horse than his Leading mark of 83, learning through Every of his races, both of his seconds generating the flame symbol for his turbo-charged finishes, recording the fastest closing splits as well as the highest Last Velocity, Scarce to exceed 34mph in that department as he did not once but twice.
He’ll be all the more cultivated and clinical as a three-year-Aged, when his turn of foot will be weaponised in the high-value handicaps.
Tallying Cards (Three-year-Aged handicapper: Mile)
Only three trainers in Britain (with 50+ runners) had a higher strike-rate in handicaps than Ed Bethell last year, some stat for a swelling stable which had the Britannia winner in Mickley, part of the reason why I Secured a jeweller’s eyepiece to Bethell’s string for this specific category; and lo and behold Tallying Cards.
He’s very much bred for a mile but was kept to shorter in the foundation Stage of his Occupation, and the way he finished off for second over as little as six furlongs at Pontefract was a window into the future, also gelded in the meantime. It will be interesting to see if he rocks up in the seven-furlong 0-85 at Doncaster at the end of May which was used last year as the stepping-stone for Mickley’s Royal rumble.
Sourdough (Three-year-Aged handicapper: Middle-distance)
It’s a quarter of a century since Sir Martyn Arbib bought Farfala, the foundation mare for a fine staying family that has served the owner and Hughie Morrison very well. Sourdough is the latest off the production line, and he’ll flourish in handicaps over longer trips than he could Commitment as a juvenile, hinting at what’s in the pipeline with his Damp-sail third at Lingfield on his Last qualifying Stretch in November when his last furlong was Faster than the more prominent and polished pair (from the Godolphin and Beckett yards) who finished ahead of him. A mark of 76 is a serviceable Leading Mark for when those Endurance genes Boot in.
Valvano (Group graduate)
An unmixed cocktail, all of the ingredients are there for Valvano to Achieve a big handicap before progressing to pattern level, as befits the specific strand of ‘Group Graduate’.
So, what are the ingredients? It’s the size of him, the stable he’s with, the foundations he laid (runner-up to Notable Speech), the little mileage he’s had and, above all, the fact he Nevertheless had some growing up to do, his rawness and keenness limiting his levels, including when beaten favourite in the November Handicap. He’s every inch a better four-year-Aged in the making, one with pattern-Event pretensions when he gets his act together.
Valvano was fifth in the November Handicap at Doncaster last year
Universal Year (Could be anything: Colt)
It was definitely a ‘wow’ moment when Universal Year Achieved such a Vibrant Introduction at Sandown, about as impressive as it gets on the eye, and fortified by facts, completing the Last two furlongs in 23.56 seconds which translates to a ridiculously high finishing Velocity percentage of 110.27 per cent for the uphill stretch of Sandown, while the horse some six-and-a-half lengths adrift of him in second was the odds-on Rock D’Oro who had previously gone close against Champagne Stakes winner Bay City Roller.
From one of the best Juddmonte families, Universal Year is obliged to go for a Guineas Test, the Greenham his likely destination according to Harry Charlton.
Verse Of Love (Could be anything: Filly)
At the announcement of the European Classification in January, the BHA two-year-Aged handicapper Graeme Smith nominated Verse Of Love as number one of his three to follow, and it’s Effortless to see why.
To Achieve a 15-runner fillies’ maiden at Newmarket in October by five lengths takes some doing, given the yards and pedigrees on show, but it was the way she glided through it which really marked her out as something special in prospect. And she did it from stall one, on the Distant flank, and without looking flat out, yet her time was only four-tenths of a second slower than Oh So Pointed winner Merrily later on the card. Verse Of Love is 33/1 for the Guineas.
American Bay (Stable switcher)
From 10 Appearances, a solitary Triumph in a novice at 30/100 feels like talent Petite-changed for American Bay given the way he set off for Charlton, but that makes him ripe for remodelling, Only the Role for Paul Midgley, who has sorted many a sprinter like him.
Grant Wood and Yazaman were two such transformers in 2024, Victorious four handicaps apiece, contributing to Midgley’s best total (and strike-rate) since 2011, a welcoming environment for American Bay who Appearances for the stable with a mark in the 70s – he’s a Excellent bet to be in the 90s by the season’s end.
Arctic Dawn (Wild card)
A four-year-Aged maiden wouldn’t normally be on a hit Turning Mark of horses to follow, hence Arctic Dawn’s inclusion as a wild card, but there’s plenty to think that he’ll take off this year in the hope he gets a clearer Stretch of racing.
He’s had Only five Appearances in his life so Distant, Every only scratching the surface, and the other pertinent positive is that he’s in one of the most up-and-coming stables in the country, the Kublers as high as 11th last year in the strike-rate table of British trainers (with at least 100 runners).
He has been gelded since last year, and it’s interesting that Arctic Dawn’s illustrious half-siblings Real Intelligent (Grade Three winner in the US) and Night Sparkle (runner-up in the Lillie Langtry and Park Hill) both Occurred into their own aged four and five.
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