My summer Twelve to Follow

Usually in May I am still casting an enviously nostalgic eye backwards to Aintree and Cheltenham, reluctant yet to pack away my stouter shoes and rainproof Barbour. This year it is different: I have rarely looked forward more to the Flat.

It all began with two glorious races for the Guineas. Rock-star wrinklies make farewell tours an annual event, but this really is to be Frankie Dettori’s last year in the saddle and in this year’s 2000 his victory on Chaldean was a perfect reminder of his skills. Andrew Balding, scoring his second training success in the race in four years with the first horse sent to him by Juddmonte, was characteristically happy to deflect the glory Frankie’s way, saying: ‘What a brilliant ride. Ever since I’ve been involved in the sport Frankie’s been an omnipresent superstar and what a fitting way to end his last 2000 Guineas.’ Go racing this year and catch him while you still can.

Then, in the fillies’ equivalent, the 1000 Guineas, we had one of those brilliant mano-a-mano duels that sear themselves on to your eyeballs. The favourite, Dermot Weld’s Tahiyra, and Saeed bin Suroor’s little Mawj, ridden by Oisin Murphy, hit the front two furlongs out as two packs merged. Going seven lengths clear of the rest, they tussled every stride to the line with Murphy winning out by half a length. I’d back Tahiyra to win next time because Weld said she was two weeks behind, but it was the perfect redemption for the former champion jockey resuming this season after a 14-month ban for Covid misdemeanours and failed alcohol tests. We should see one of the finest battles in years for the jockeys’ championship as a fit-again Oisin attempts to wrest the crown back from William Buick. As well as being supreme artists in the saddle, both are highly intelligent men who know the form book and the breeders’ catalogues inside out.