Trainers to follow

Love him or hate him, and I am definitely one of the former, you have to admire him. For those of you unfamiliar with his methods the typical inmate of this stable is a late maturing, middle distance or staying type. At two years old it is given three runs over six furlongs, distance and lack of precocity result in a finish in the bottom half of the field. A year later and qualified for handicaps the horse appears with a lowly handicap mark in a ten furlong handicap, wins, and a few days later wins again – often at an extra furlong, where the even more suitable distance offsets the previous win’s penalty. All within the rules, improvement is down to age and distance, whilst the handicapper could only rate the horse on what it had done.

Many have tried this approach but Sir Mark Prescott is the acknowledged master. Unfortunately this means that many of the older horses start at prohibitive odds – horses that have won their previous race are usually odds on – which makes it difficult for the punter to make money.

The key, as always, is to be selective. There is usually an end of year sale of three year olds and the horses that are kept to run as four year olds are worth following to a level stake. Three year olds are worth backing first time out, especially when stepping up in trip. Fitness is guaranteed (though improvement can also be expected). With this stable I do break one of my rules and will back odds on down to about 4/5, you need to set your own level. There are also few horses that Sir Mark does not manage to get a win from so it is worth following the handicap maidens even on a long losing streak.

The two year olds are different matter. There are two distinct groups, those bred to be sprinting/early types (some from the Cheveley Park Stud) and the late maturing types bred to be middle distance or stayers as three year olds (most of Kirsten Rausing’s fall into this latter group). The betting usually tells the story first time out even if you are unsure about the pedigree. By leaving the latter group alone completely the two year old section can become profitable.

Until this season the stable rarely had a runner until July but training Confidential Lady for the Guineas changed all that. Nevertheless the stable is still going through it’s customary purple patch that usually starts mid-July and runs to end of August. After that a lot of the handicap marks have gone up considerably and the horses become more difficult to win with. Goodwood (two handicap winners from two runners this year) and the big autumn handicaps at Newmarket are often targetted, the stable has landed some notable ‘touches’ in these and isn’t afraid of doing it with a first time out runner. In the winter on the all-weather there are a sometimes a few runners which are still trying to get a handicap mark and in some years there has been one laid out for a quick sequence of wins.

Ireland and France (ridden by J B Eyquem) are also happy hunting grounds though the Irish runners often go off at very short odds.

If you back Sir Mark Prescott’s horses you will certainly get winners, I hope you can make it pay with the above tips.