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>2008 Flat Season Preview - Ten to follow

2008 Flat Season Preview – ten to follow

This flat season promises to be a cracker and this preview highlights 10 horses who should light it up and hopefully help us make a tidy profit too!

Peeping Fawn

Aidan O’Brien’s remarkable filly won 4 group 1 races on the bounce after finishing second to Light Shift in the Oaks at Epsom. She won the Pretty Polly stakes at the Curragh, the Irish Oaks (reversing positions with Light Shift), the Nassau stakes at Goodwood and finished off with victory in the Yorkshire Oaks. She will have her say in all the fillies’ races over middle distances but also has the class to make her presence felt against the colts and it would be no surprise to see her aimed at the Arc de Triomphe where she would give a good account receiving the fillies weight allowance.

New Approach

At time of going to press Jim Bolgers’ star hadn’t been seen on a racecourse as a 3yo but he will surely take high rank amongst his age group when he is seen out. He won all five of his races as a juvenile culminating in victory in the Dewhurst where he had Fast Company, Ravens Pass and Rio de le Plata behind amongst others. He is rightly favourite for the 2000 Guineas and if he can keep this level of form throughout the season he will be a live contender for all mile races.

Duke of Marmalade

Aidan O’Brien’s colt only won once in 9 races in his 2yo and 3yo old career but that he nearly always was running in the group ones. He rectified that with his first race as a 4yo old when winning the Prix Ganay at Longchamp and he is expected to add to that as the season goes on. He will be effective from 1m – 1m2f and could be seen next out in the Lockinge where he will have a chance with a run already under his belt.

Twice Over

Henry Cecil’s colt has only had 3 races but is now at the head of the derby market after 2 impressive victories as a juvenile were followed up with victory in the Craven stakes in his first start as a 3yo. In the craven he beat a serious horse in Ravens Pass who would have preferred the mile trip to Twice Over and as this horse is already proven over 1m2f Cecil has a serious horse for all the top middle distance races.

Ramonti

Godolphins’ star miler has a very impressive strike rate and has only been out the placings once in a 19 race career. In his penultimate start last year he won the QEII at Ascot beating the decent Excellent Art (receiving 4lbs) before rounding off his season with victory in the Hong Kong cup at Sha Tin. However, he is still sometimes underrated and could be a decent price in some of his races this season, especially when Godolphin begin winding up.

Septimus

Although O’Brien has another star stayer on his hands in the shape of Yeats he may have an even better one by the end of the season if Septimus continues his improvement. He was a decent horse over shorter but – like Yeats – has improved drastically for the step up in trip and won both the Lonsdale cup at York and the Doncaster cup in his last 2 races last year. The one trump card he has over Yeats is he can handle any ground and if the 2 do ever meet it will be a great race to savour.

Lucarno

John Gosdens’ 4yo had a hit and miss season last year but finished off in style by claiming the St Leger at Doncaster after he took victory in the Voltiguer stakes at York. This showed his versatility and although St Leger winners rarely go on to great things his victory was impressive enough at Doncaster to suggest he should be able to pick up a couple of races this season bearing in mind he has only had 8 career starts. 

Literato

Godolphin are masters at campaigning their 4yos and should be set for a decent season ahead with Literato. After a great 3yo season culminating in victory in the Champion stakes at Newmarket he ran a stinker in Dubai on his first start for Godolphin but they had a poor carnival and a line can be put through that run. Godolphin look like they are going to make a serious effort to win races in Britain this season due to their preparations  with a guess at Literato being one of their flag bearers.

Phoenix Tower

Henry Cecil could have a great season and this horse could have something to do with that. He has only had four starts but the way he ran on his reappearance after returning from a pelvic problem shows he has a bright future. The competition wasn’t the greatest but he did beat Pipedreamer and Multidimensional with comparative ease and he shouldn’t be underestimated especially with his connections.

Soldier of Fortune

This horse looks a typical Aidan O’Brien improver with age and it will be a major surprise if he doesn’t win a Group 1 this season. He won the Irish Derby before finishing 5th in the Arc behind his stable mate Dylan Thomas. He was also fifth in the Epsom Derby and with another year on his back he should be set for a very good season especially as O’Brien has been making some bullish noises, even more so than usual.