Five to Follow for 2024 flat racing season with Timeform ratings ahead of first Classics

As the 2024 turf season kicks into full gear with the first Classics of the season at Newmarket this weekend, Timeform has provided Record Sport online with Five to follow for the season ahead.

4yo colt

Trainer: Ed Walker

Representing the same connections who did so well with the 2021 July Cup winner Starman, English Oak looks another sprinter to follow in 2024. On pedigree he might have been expected to be suited by longer trips and he spent much of last season running at seven furlongs and a mile. However, English Oak was dropped back to Ascot’s stiff six furlongs in October and produced his best effort in going down by a neck to the dual Wokingham winner Rohaan, doing well under the circumstances given his position more towards the centre of the track. English Oak is a tall, imposing type who will make a better four-year-old.

3yo colt

Kevin Ryan

Jehangeer, a brother to dual Group 1 winner Hello Youmzain, appeals as one for the valuable sprint handicaps for three-year-olds. He showed plenty on his debut at Ayr when chasing home the subsequent Coventry Stakes runner-up Army Ethos and then went one better in another maiden at the same track a month later despite still showing some inexperience.

Jehangeer was then found out in better company in the Gimcrack but got back on the up when running on into third in the Rockingham Stakes behind the more prominently-ridden pair Purosangue and Esquire, the latter boosting that form when returning with a win in the Greenham Stakes. A tall colt with bags of scope, Jehangeer is very much the type to progress further as he matures.

4yo colt

Sir Michael Stoute

The demands of the Derby came a bit too soon in Passenger’s career last year but like so many Sir Michael Stoute-trained colts