Things to Consider for the UK Flat Racing Season Ahead

July 19, 2022

Last season enjoyed an undulation typical of British horse racing, Frankel fever had begun and the mighty flat legends offspring began to roll out on course.

The two big Richards of training, Hannon and Fahey, both earned less in prize money in 2016 than they had the year before, bucking the trend of their steady increases of the last 3 years.

Hugo Palmer beat Aidan O’brien in the 2000 guineas with his first classic win with Galileo Gold. O’brien faltered at the start of the season with Air Force Blue, but he came good at the end of the year with Minding, Found, and Churchill.

One thing was certain, though, you can’t keep a trainer like Aidan O’brien in the Group 1 doldrums for long.

Onto 2017 and the flat season has hotted up already. Hannon, who had a particularly dry 2016 season is already +60pts up this season. He had two winners at the Doncaster Lincoln meeting, Tupi and Kool Kompany, and just missed out on a treble when Oh This Is Us went down guns blazing in the Lincoln handicap. He’s firing in winners on the AW, in listed races and in handicaps and has a few nice new horses like Alkhor who won his debut easily.

I expect to see Hannon’s group race record to be much better this season than last and I do think he’s a trainer to keep an eye on for punters, as he’s sure to notch up a gear and win more prize money than he did last year.

Godolphin’s boys in blue have exploded back onto the course with an almost 50% strike rate in his first 25 runners, as William Haggas continues his extraordinary strike rate with 13 from 24 winners in the last 14 days. Stoute and Moore struck at the Lincoln with Bailey’s Concerto and have sent a number of promising ones from last season on the AW like Poet’s Word and Interweave, gaining wins under Moore.

Early season is a great time for punters to pick up some profit by following yards who clearly have their stock in fine order. It will be interesting to see how Haggas, Godolphin and Stoute do at the Good Friday meeting at Lingfield, to see whether their fantastic form translates to more competitive races.

Ryan Moore is expected to ride a full season since he was out for injury for a good part of last year, leaving the title to be fought by Silvestre De Sousa and Jim Crowley. He almost cost bookies a fortune that could almost rival even Dettori’s magnificent 7 at Doncaster when just missing out on a 4-timer with Hannon’s Oh This is Us, and with AW wins since, he’s reminded bookies and punters alike that he can make the difference between winning and losing on favourites and outsiders.

Another trainer who will seek to increase his Group 1 portfolio is John Gosden. His 2016 season was marked by a transition to training duties for Godolphin. Middle Kingdom, a 3-y-o bay colt wasn’t supported too much on debut at Newcastlein November, but bolted up to win by 3 lengths after missing the break badly. The form doesn’t mean much but the horse is reportedly working very well and the Chine Horse Club may have a quality horse on their hands that could rack up a sequence for punters. Icespire, daugter of Frankel, who won her sole start on debut last year is an exciting filly for Gosden and should shape to be a classic contender, Swiss Storm is another Frankel to keep a close eye on to pick up some big races for trainer David Elsworth.