Twelve to Follow

Enough of these two-year-old babies and equine whippets racing over the length of a few suburban lawns. Not a moment too soon it is time for hardier sorts and for the winter sport, for sturdy mud-stained limbs and exhaled breath hanging in dank November air.

First, though, some past business, and I fear that if I were reporting on Twelve to Follow Inc at an AGM there might be some rumblings from the floor about the chairman’s stewardship of the finances. Apologies. On the basis of a £10 level win stake the accounts show a loss of just under £100 on the fortunes of our Twelve on the Flat this year. Between them they ran on 45 occasions and were in the frame on 26 of those, a pretty decent record. Godolphin’s splendidly consistent miler Ramonti was the highlight, winning Europe’s three best mile races, all Group Ones, twice at 5–1 and once at 9–2.