Well most of them, anyway...
Most aren't willing to stick their necks out too far when it comes
to pinpointing horses to follow for the season ahead.
A couple from Mullins, one or two from Nicholls, a sprinkling from the Henderson yard...
Not interested mate. Mrs NTF could compile a list like that! And she really isn't as engrossed in the racing game as me! (like totally not...not in the
slightest..."Yaay, Perth passed it's inspection today love" "OK. That's nice. See you later. I'm off to work. Don't forget to book the car in for it's M.O.T. *Stupid prick. I've just woken up. Does he really think I care about bloody Perth. I've got to go and save lives for a living. Prick*".
Yep it's that time of the year again. The time when your in-boxes are swamped with 'to
follow' lists after 'to follow' lists...after 'to follow' lists!!
And I'm pitching into the swarm with my own 'Alternative' take on things.
Which means...
NO Nicholls - NO Mullins - NO Henderson
Yet again I've taken a slightly different tact to most of the other 'to follow' lists out there and delved a bit deeper into the training ranks, looking past the obvious trio of Mullins, Henderson and Nicholls.
In fact you won't even find a Pipe, Skelton, Hobbs, Tizzard, King, Elliott OR O'Neill runner on my list. I'm going deeper that even the second tier of trainers!
Look we all know ALTIOR, DOUVAN, SIZING JOHN, MIGHT BITE and co will win their fair share of races this term. You don't need me to tell you that and I don't need to insult you by telling you that (I'll leave that up to the mainstream pundits!!).
I'm much more interested in looking for the runners that have skimmed under the radar a touch, the ones that are
not talked about on a regular basis and don't already have a high profile win on their CV.
It's trickier than a standard 'to follow' list and it will have more of a roller-coaster feel to it, buts that's cool, especially if you can pick up a Violet Dancer, Lil Rockerfeller or a Cloudy Dream along the way (the stars of my
last three alternative to follow lists).
All of the horses on the list were noted by me at some stage last season. For varying reasons they made my notebook as ones to look out for in coming seasons. None of it is based on hearsay or stable whispers. I don't go in for that. I back my own judgement and my own views. It's how I like it. It's what I know
works.
Whilst constructing this guide I did, however, manage to source some EXCLUSIVE comments from a few of the trainers featured, regarding the specific horse of theirs that I had selected for my list.
Here is a sneaky-peek for you...
“He’s a really nice horse. X X is penciled in to run at Kelso on the 8th October over hurdles, he could be exceptionally good.”
But which trainer is that and who exactly is he waxing lyrical about?
As already mentioned each of them were noted by me at some stage last season/very early in this season . They caught my eye on at least one occasion and from there I filed them away in my notebook and then re-watched ALL of their previous runs over the summer so I could form a stronger picture of their abilities and likely future targets/plans.
The
'Alternative 20 to follow' is the fruits of that labour...
Happy punting and if for any reason you can't grab the guide from one of the links above the 'pure' link is at the bottom of this mail...
Cheers
Thanks for being a loyal NTF reader
https://www.narrowing-the-field.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NTF-to-follow-list-17-18.2.pdf
