Champion Trainer Charlie Appleby has another strong hand this season and has already shown he can get a few of his older Moulton Paddocks inmates back to their best with past classic winners Hurricane Lane and Adayar already scoring this term.
Here are five horses trained by Appleby that you should consider putting in your Ten To Follow team.
The aforementioned HURRICANE LANE has already shown positive signs of a revival mission. The former St Leger winner didn’t show much in his Newbury return in April but bounced back at the Rowley Mile to be a handsome six-length winner of the Group Two Jockey Club Stakes.
Lightly raced for a five-year-old, it might be easy to forget that this son of Frankel is a three-time Group One scorer. Of course, that last of those was the 2021 St Leger but the manner of victory at Newmarket last time suggests he could be back to his old self.
The Coronation Cup at Epsom might well be his next stop for this classy customer before a trip to Royal Ascot for the Hardwicke Stakes. After a close call there in 2021, the Prix De L’Arc de Triomphe looks the obvious seasonal target - which could be the bonus race to get you over the line at the end of the campaign.
Next up, ADAYAR - the slightly more speedier stablemate of Hurricane Lane. Another by Frankel, this five-year-old does his best work over 10 furlongs and should have plenty of engagements to take up this season.
A comfortable winner of the Group Three Gordon Richards Stakes at Newmarket in early May, he has opened several seasonal avenues now. The Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh might be the first stop - before the Ten To Follow competition starts - or he could line up in the Coronation Cup.
Options are plenty at Royal Ascot but The Prince Of Wales’s Stakes would perhaps be more suitable that the Hardwicke. The Eclipse at Sandown looks like the big mid-season target or a trip to York for the International Stakes could be on the cards, although he is untried on the Knavesmire so far.
Reliable and versatile on all ground descriptions, he could still prove to be the best horse in Appleby’s care.
On to the younger horses to consider, it’s hard not to like MILITARY ORDER’s CV. A popular three-year-old, he has gone off favourite for his four career starts and obliged in three of them.
He solidified his position in the Epsom Derby reckoning when justifying a short price in the Lingfield Derby trial. A clear-cut winner of the listed race, ran this year on the all-weather, he did it in a thoroughly likable fashion.
With obvious bonus race claims right off the bat in the Ten To Follow competition, he could go on to further successes down the line in the likes of the King Edward VII stakes or the Irish Derby.
The son of Frankel falls into the ‘could be anything category’ and is definitely one you’d want to be with rather than against in this season-long competition.
Maybe a little less obvious than the rest, SILVER KNOTT looks a viable alternative if you can forgive him for his 2000 Guineas attempt.
A late starter to his two-year-old season, he campaigned quite aggressively in the summer before a trip overseas to the Breeders Cup in the autumn. Just falling short to the Aidan O’Brien-trained Victoria Road in Keeneland, he still showed he was one of the best juveniles in the world last term.
Keeneland 4.11.22
Making his three-year-old debut in the 2000 Guineas was always going to be a big ask for the son of Lope De Vega and he looked well held from alongway in the Newmarket classic.
After that sub par showing connections could be a bit of a crossroads. Entered in the Derby and the St James’s Palace Stakes at this stage, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him step up in trip with his Dam, God Given, being out of Nathaniel.
If he were to line up in the Derby he would be a lively outsider, it wouldn't be the first time that the Godolpin first choice has been out trumped by the red capped runner.
The last of the five that has to be pondered, is a late inclusion after winning the Group One Lockinge Stakes last weekend, MODERN GAMES.
Without Baaeed to worry about in the mile division now, this son of Dubawi appears to be the new suitable heir to the throne. Well supported at Newbury, he even managed to score whilst eventual runner-up Chindit tried to bite him in the closing stages.
He can now be expected to run in all the top mile events this season, including the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot. Perhaps more trips overseas loom later in the season, after successful voyages to France and the USA last term.
