Cleeve Racing’s National Hunt Ten to Follow 2015-2016 Cleeve Racing Ten to Follow ©Cleeve Racing Limited 2015 Introduction We have deliberately left out the blindingly obvious horses from this list, as pretty much every other ten to follow list will include some or all of the following: Douvan, Faugheen, Vautour, Annie Power, Coneygree, Don Poli, Djakadam, Silviniaco Conti, Dodging Bullets and Un de Sceaux. All ten of those horses are likely to win many of the major races in the coming season; however are likely to be at prohibitive odds due to their established credentials. The horses included in this Ten to Follow are very well worth backing all season. As most things that are free most people will read the report once and then store it on their hard drive and forget about it. We do however have a service for everyone that wants to follow the selections. The Ten Follow service sends you an email every time one of the selections is running and we will highlight weather we think the right conditions exist for the selections to have a good chance of winning. So here we go with the Cleeve Racing Ten to Follow: Cleeve Racing Ten to Follow ©Cleeve Racing Limited 2015 1. All Set to Go 4-y-o (27Apr11 gr g) Verglas (IRE) (8.6f) — Firecrest(IRE) (Darshaan (11.7f)) Trainer Paul Nicholls Owner C G Roach Breeder Mrs S M Rogers & Sir Thomas Pilkington This is a pretty dark horse as far as this type of list goes as he has only had one race over hurdles to date; however he was placed in Group 3 race on the flat. He beat Kingfisher in that race and finished less than three lengths behind multiple Group race winner Fascinating Rock. He finished fourth in his only hurdle race and Paul Nicholls reported that he has since had a breathing operation and I think that we will see a revitalised horse next season. I would expect that he will continue his novice hurdle campaign and will handle all kinds of going. It would be no surprise to see him start off at one of the West Country tracks prior to moving through the grades. LIFETIME STARTS WINS 2NDS 3RDS WINNINGS EARNINGS BEST BEST OR† RECORD TS RPR Flat Turf 9 1 0 1 £7,293 £17,159 72 105 100 Stakes 5 0 0 1 £0 £9,866 72 105 100 Hurdle 1 0 0 0 £0 £429 33 87 — Summary Going – All types of going Race Type – Novice Hurdles Cleeve Racing Ten to Follow ©Cleeve Racing Limited 2015 2. Aux Ptits Soins 5-y-o (03Apr10 gr g) Saint Des Saints (FR) — Reflexion Faite (FR) (Turgeon (USA) (10.4f)) Trainer Paul Nicholls Owner J Hales Breeder S C E A Haras De Saint Voir Image courtesy of Course racing Specialist This horse really excites me despite only having had the one race in the UK; however that was a win at Cheltenham in the Coral Cup (Handicap Hurdle) Grade 3. That performance was impressive beating a couple of very good horses Taglietelle and Activial despite making a couple of mistakes at hurdles on the way round. He has had a setback or two over the summer and is unlikely to be seen again until the New Year, but I think we shall see a stronger horse come back. His owner expects him to be a Gold Cup winner going forward, but I think we shall see the best of him over hurdles from 2 miles 4 furlongs up to 3 miles. His smooth action and high cruising speed will make him hard to beat when we see him back on the track. Statistics LIFETIME BEST BEST RECORD STARTS WINS 2NDS 3RDS WINNINGS EARNINGS TS RPR OR† NHF 1 0 0 1 £0 £2,250 — — — Hurdle 3 3 0 0 £83,960 £83,960 85 146 152 Rules Races 4 3 0 1 £83,960 £86,210 — — — Summary Going – Won on all types of going Race Type – High grade Handicap Hurdles in the New Year Cleeve Racing Ten to Follow ©Cleeve Racing Limited 2015 3. Bellshill 5-y-o (25Mar10 b g) King´s Theatre (IRE) (11.4f) — Fairy Native (IRE) (Be My Native (USA) (11.7f)) Trainer W P Mullins Owner Andrea & Graham Wylie Breeder Frank Motherway Image courtesy of Racing Post A beautifully bred horse, which won two out of five races under rules; including the Grade 1 Champion Bumper at Punchestown in April. He won that race very comfortably indeed and this made up for his disappointing performance in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham a few weeks earlier. It may be that he did not handle the undulations at Cheltenham and his shrewd trainer may aim him at top hurdles at Leopardstown, Kempton and Aintree. I think his performance at Punchestown showed a maturity, which he did not show until that race. If you watch the race you will see the smooth headway throughout the race, which marks out a very good horse. I am looking forward to seeing him especially if Ruby Walsh is on board as he will bring the horse through to challenge in the final furlong. Statistics LIFETIME STARTS WINS 2NDS 3RDS WINNINGS EARNINGS BEST BEST OR† RECORD TS RPR NHF 5 2 2 0 £48,499 £56,325 118 140 — PTP 1 0 1 0 £0 £0 — 87 — Rules Races 5 2 2 0 £48,499 £56,325 — — — Summary Going – Good to Yielding, Good to Soft Race Type – Novice Hurdles Cleeve Racing Ten to Follow ©Cleeve Racing Limited 2015 4. Clarcam 5-y-o (21May10 b g) Califet (FR) — Rose Beryl (FR) (Lost World (IRE) (7.9f)) Trainer Gordon Elliott Owner Gigginstown House Stud Breeder Jean Michel & Dominique Le Breton Image courtesy of Belfast Telegraph Clarcam ran seven times last season and won five of those; however if he had not come up against Vautour and Un de Sceaux he would have won another two. He won the Grade 1 Manifesto Novices’ Chase at Aintree staying on well to win his first race over 2 miles and four furlongs. My view is that he should be kept to this distance going forward as I don’t believe he has the speed to challenge the really top horses like Vautour and Un de Sceaux over two miles. He can make mistakes but usually they have come when he is going too quickly for his own comfort. He settled much better over the two and a half miles and can dominate that distance next season. Statistics LIFETIME STARTS WINS 2NDS 3RDS WINNINGS EARNINGS BEST BEST OR† RECORD TS RPR Flat Turf 1 0 0 0 £0 £1,057 — — — Hurdle 10 2 5 1 £15,041 £51,732 116 139 123 Chase 6 3 2 0 £107,757 £121,540 115 159 159 Summary Going - Good to Soft or Yielding Race Type - Grade 1 Chases at 2 Miles 4 Furlongs Cleeve Racing Ten to Follow ©Cleeve Racing Limited 2015 5. Killultagh Vic 6-y-o (12Apr09 b g) Old Vic (12.9f) — Killultagh Dawn (IRE) (Phardante (FR ) (12.7f)) Trainer W P Mullins Owner Mrs R Boyd, Mrs M J Armstrong & J B Anderson Breeder F Boyd Image courtesy of Course Specilists The last two races that this horse ran last season had me really looking forward to seeing him again – he won the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Hurdle at Cheltenham and then followed that up by winning the Grade 1 Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle. Both races marked him out as a horse to follow due his battling qualities especially at Cheltenham, where he was headed going towards the line but battled back to win. The Punchestown race was in my view a key race where we will see multiple winners come from it. He will be aimed at the top hurdles unless Willie decides that he will be even better over fences, which I think he will be in time. Statistics LIFETIME BEST BEST RECORD STARTS WINS 2NDS 3RDS WINNINGS EARNINGS TS RPR OR† NHF 5 2 1 0 £12,363 £14,207 117 138 — Hurdle 5 3 1 1 £81,791 £92,563 115 155 149 PTP 1 0 0 1 £0 £0 — 75 — Summary Going – Won on all types of going from Good to Heavy Race Type – High grade Hurdles or possibly Novice Chases Cleeve Racing Ten to Follow ©Cleeve Racing Limited 2015 6. Moon Racer 6-y-o (01Jan09 b g) Saffron Walden (FR) (13.6f) — Angel´s Folly (Wesaam (USA) ) Trainer David Pipe Owner Professor Caroline Tisdall & Bryan Drew Breeder Denis And Mrs Teresa Bergin Image courtesy of Sporting Life The Cheltenham Champion Bumper winner is unbeaten having won three out of three bumper races to date. He is one of the most impressive bumper winners I have seen and although that does not guarantee success over hurdles I will be very surprised if he does not win a Graded Hurdle in the coming season. Moon Racer has a turn of foot which will win him more races as the vast majority of horses do not have that level of acceleration. It would be no surprise if he is targeted at the big novice hurdle at Kempton over Christmas and it will take a very good horse to beat him if he takes to hurdles. Statistics LIFETIME STARTS WINS 2NDS 3RDS WINNINGS EARNINGS BEST BEST OR† RECORD TS RPR NHF 3 3 0 0 £87,885 £87,885 102 140 — Rules Races 3 3 0 0 £87,885 £87,885 — — — Summary Going – Good, Good to Soft Race Type – High grade Novice Hurdles Cleeve Racing Ten to Follow ©Cleeve Racing Limited 2015 7.