2014 Ten to Follow Flat Competition Thread.

Watch out! Watch out! There's an Aardvark about!

Still overall 2nd here.
Big weekend ahead though.

Kingston Hill or bust for me!

Down to 4th here.  But three runners tomorrow.

17th, and with Treve, Toronado and Leading Light going tomorrow.

Same three as me JOCI.

5 beaten favs this weekend.  Down to 4th.

Wasn't Ectot one of the horses you were against too?

Joci, Ectot isn't in any of my lists.

Yes, thought you posted a while back that Kingston Hill and Ectot were ones who could do you some damage.

Yes JOCI, think I might have.  I seem to remember seeing him in a couple of close up lists a bit back.

The ones that could do best for me now are Sole Power, Taghrooda and Magician.  Every other list near the top seems to have all of my other 7.

I think Cirrus des Aigles would be a welcome winner for me, and even better, Shifting Power, but the latter is pprobably unlikely now after his last run.

Think we might just have to be content with the £5k from the May prize this season....would have taken that at the start of the comp.

Have actually already gone a long way to furmulating my lists for the Jumps comp! Sad!

I've made a start to the jumps too. 

Still in 4th here.  Praying for a dry few days in Paris.

18th for us. Think we're going to need Kingston Hill to win the Arc to possibly break into the top 10. Also, any kind of points from Shifting Power would be a big help, as would Cirrus Des Aigles returning to form.

Good luck to you guys in your quest for some of the prize money.

This was the first year since the TTF inception that I did not take part. The competition has fallen from grace regarding the prize money. I noted in today's Racing Post that the winner gets £40,568.50. 5th place gets £1,738.65. In 2005 I was lucky enough to be 5th. I got £6,880. The winner got £160,455.

The fall is due to the Tote's way of marketing the competition over the years. Making silly changes did not help either.

Clerkmore, some good points there, although I would guess this coming NH comp will be £70k plus to the winner.  And thanks. 

TTF, you validate my point about prize money with your comment about the forthcoming NH comp. Around 2005 there was a guaranteed £1million total prize fund. The winner used get around £500k.

We got about the same as you Clerkmore some years ago for finishing 6th on the Flat. Now, the monthly prizes are better than most of the top 10 finish prizes!

Anybody playing nowadays would be better to target the monthly prizes. In the old days, you would target the overall and hope to fluke a monthly.

Hi lads. Jonis Ponis here lying in 7th but with Ectot hopefully about to do the business for me. Pretty gutted to read Tapestry now going for the Arc - I thought I was guaranteed 25+ point from the Opera. Unlike you TTF I'll be hoping the gaps don't appear for Sole Power but I think he'll take the world of beating. I have always made you fav by the way - great list. Best of luck anyway.

Thanks JB.  Good luck to you too and JOCI.  Would be great to have some winners on here.

I need a few more things to go right for me than you guys, but good luck too!

Rancid French stewards cost us any chance now! Not happy!

That could have opened it up for the current 5th placed entry.  Has Etcot but not CDA.

Yes gutted as I would have been the highest Ectot entry without that disqualification. On the plus side I see him being tough to beat in the Champion given soft ground.

Treve was a great result for you Ten - upto 2nd now?

And could have been better with luck in running for Sole Power!

I think I'm up to 2nd, but whatever happens, I don't think I'll peg back the current leader.

Nice one TTF. We're up to 14th. CDA keeping the race would have seen us in the top 10.

Nice little pick up if you can (at worst) hang on for 2nd. Anything much below that, and not worth geting excited about (apart from the 'glory').

I'm not counting my chickens yet, but here's hoping.

Just looked at the table on Totesport's website. I notice, TTF, that you got points for Taghrooda in the Arc. Have they changed the scoring rules? It used just be for 1st or 2nd.

Clerky, you now get place points for Tote (or PMU) dividends.
They've kept the 12 points for 2md place in the elite races.  If only she'd got 2nd.  But I can't claim that I was unlucky with her run.

T2F - read today that Sole Power next going for a race abroad, rather than going for the sprint on Champions Day. That could have madea a difference for you.

JOCI, I was imagining that he wouldn't run, given the distance, likelihood of soft going, G1 penalty, recent run etc.  But thanks for letting me know.

Gotta hope for a change of mind, but it appeared he was being prepared for the race in Asia he came 2nd in last season.

The guy ahead of me has Tapestry, and I reckon she might get him some points in the Filly & Mare race.  My only real hopes are a change of mind on Taghrooda or a big run from Magician.  I'm just hopeful not to tumble down the table.

And I'm relying on Cirrus Des Aigles in the Champion Stakes (or Kingston Hill, which would be a bad result for you).

Can't see Shifting Power entered up anywhere at the moment which doesn't bode well.

Not long now anyway JOCI.

Best of luck to all 3 of you. Roll on the Jumps competition for me.

Me too!

NO JUMPS COMPETITION THIS YEAR - GUTTED. 

What !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JOCI.  The book came through the post today.  But with no mention of the competition, and the horses weren't numbered.  So I emailed the T0te asking when a list would be available, and got an email back saying that after careful consideration they had decided not to run the comp this NH season.  No mention of future ones, but....

Baldfred has well and truly fooked it up anyway!

Very disappointed nonetheless.

Looks like they're still trying to con people into buying the book though, with all those expecting to use it for the comp.

Yes JOCI, but we were hopeful of a better prize (maybe £100k) as the NH comp was always way more popular.

And yes, the book looks just like it always did and that's why I bought it.

I have been harping on for years about their efforts to ruin what used to be a great competition. If the Jumps competition is not running this year you can be sure that is the end of it as regards the T0te anyway. The final straw for me was a couple of years ago when I bought the book for the flat and they added horses to the list afterwards.

Last year for the jumps I did BillyHills competition for £2 per line with a chance to win £150k.

There is a mini one that about 200 of us do if you're interested. The top 100 lists play for free, the bottom 100 have to pay £100 at the end of the comp, all money goes into prizes, top 10 positions.

Sounds good.
Please send me details of any similar comps.

it is run by a guy called Bob Wharton. Several famours folk involved too e.g Zoey Burd, Cattermole. Cgull from the footy forum does it too. If you give me an email address i'll forward on the info when the flat version finishes. I've got to cough up £100 this season maybe £200 if one of my lists does not score 10pts+ on champions day

Kingston Hill out of Champion Stakes.

Gutted. Pretty spineless of both Baldfred and RP who put their name to the book. No openness, honesty or any sense pro-active communication.

Agree.

Feels like I've lost a limb. Going to have to be all over the William Hill comp instead, otherwise my weeks of analysis would have come to nought!

Heads should roll at Baldfred Towers!

JOCI, when does the Wm Hill comp go live?  Where is it advertised?

Not sure - someone mentioned it above. There is a website, but it just currently shows the end of last year's comp.

Last year comp started on Hennessy Gold Cup day (30th November).

I just noticed it last year in the window of my closest WHill shop. I took some entry forms home and completed them there. I think you are right about the start date, JOCI. I am assuming they will be running one this year also.

I'm 1.4 points behind the leader but I can't beat him.  Here's hoping that I hang on for 2nd.  Ruler of the World looks like the one that could spoil it for me.

Winner    £25,417
2nd    £3,631
3rd    £1,815
4th    £1,633
5th    £1,089
6th    £907
7th    £726
8th    £544
9th    £363
10th    £181

APPROX PAYOUTS

Winner    70%    £40,568.50
2nd    10%    £ 5,795.50
3rd    5%    £ 2,897.75
4th    4.5%    £ 2,607.98
5th    3%    £ 1,738.65
6th    2.5%    £ 1,448.88
7th    2%    £ 1,159.10
8th    1.5%    £ 869.33
9th    1%    £ 579.55
10th    0.5%    £ 289.78

Just got back from my first jumps meeting at Wincanton, getting all excited because they paraded a few star horses and interviewed several trainers before racing, only to find an e-mail from the Tote with important news about the TTF. Despite my grumbles over the last few years, I still thought let's have another go. SO they've pulled the plug.

What a downer!

REM.  Did they enclose a £5 free bet?

Maybe need to e-mail Matt Chapman at ATR and get him top campaign for it to be re-instated!

An abandoned Ascot would be good for you T2F!

Where did you get those prize money figures from JOCI

Website

http://www.totesport.com/portal?action=GoFantasy

Yes, they dropped me a fiver.  They keep on throwing tit-bits at me if I ignore them long enough.  Just need to be patient and make that £5 hurt a little.

Anyhow, so this is the final TTF. Quite fitting if you pick up a decent price TTF.  Good luck for tomorrow.

Thanks REM.  I've put my fiver on Dream Walker in the last tomorrow.

Not confirmed yet, but think I've got overall 2nd.

Well done TTF. As a bit of a bolt from the blue, our second best list, which contained Charm Spirit as Star Horse appears to have leaped up to 8th place overall!

WD JOCI, noticed that earlier as eyes on board all day.  Nice bit of a bonus.  Wonder when we will get paid.  I understand that winnings go into totep00l account nowadays.  Was a cheque when I won £10k in 2004.

Yes previous wins have been via cheque but for May prize got £5k into Tote Account (after a bit of a wait).

Well done boys. Think I finished about 20th ( WellyRc ) but a good run. Spent the last 2 weeks buying the books and looking at the jumps and just found out it is finished. Gutted!

I've been working on shortlists / strategy for the Jumps comp too, but thankfully, they will be getting none of my money for the book this year, and I see their decision to sell the book as normal without pre-advising that the TTF competition would not be run, as close to thievery!!

Well done chaps, you must be chuffed.

Congrats TTFer.  Nowhere near for me.

And for Clerkmore, think we were 2nd in the year you were 5th.  We had Bago in the Arc and the list in 2nd had Westerner.  6 figure swing for a length or so.  Wouldn't mind but we had Westerner in a big chunk of our lists. 

Sad to see it go, but not surprised.  The others I used to do it with have gradually drifted away with the prize money.

Thanks guys.  Very pleased here.  Will be entering any similar comps.  See you there. 

Website only showing top 10 now with the header 'Flat Winners' so looks official now!

Well done to you guys. Very fitting that you won prizes on the final day of Ten to Follow.

I noticed Billy Hills had an ad in the Racing Post yesterday saying their competition was "coming soon to a shop near you." If they have any sense now, with the demise of the T0te's comp, they should make a big splash about it.

Cheers, and agree, big opportunity for them.

The Jumps has two major draw backs and thats the website and prizes. You can access the horses that others have by copying their log in numbers and entering the site as them but this can be very time consuming. I did this for hundreds of entries last year in an attempt to glean a better strategy. My own strategy was quite successful but alas I still fell short of cashing in. Aside from the website the other draw back is that there are only two main prizes and small monthly's. This means the chances of winning far outways the stake and amount of entries ratio you need to do to have a chance, especially as the pot is not a pool. Hills will cash in mega if they gain exponentially from the t0tes 10 nolonger to follows's demise.

Annie Power
Jezki
More Of That
The New One
Cue Card
Sire De Grugy
Sprinter Sacre

The Banker selections will come from the above horses.

The Jumps has two major draw backs and thats the website and prizes. You can access the horses that others have by copying their log in numbers and entering the site as them but this can be very time consuming. I did this for hundreds of entries last year in an attempt to glean a better strategy. My own strategy was quite successful but alas I still fell short of cashing in. Aside from the website the other draw back is that there are only two main prizes and small monthly's. This means the chances of winning far outways the stake and amount of entries ratio you need to do to have a chance, especially as the pot is not a pool. Hills will cash in mega if they gain exponentially from the t0tes 10 nolonger to follows's demise.

Annie Power
Jezki
More Of That
The New One
Cue Card
Sire De Grugy
Sprinter Sacre

The Banker selections will come from the above horses.

A double tip recession....lol

You can say that again. 

Well done to TTF and Joci. Great effort.

Yes well done lads. Alas my challenge fizzled out when Ectot ran a stinker but the comp was enjoyable nonetheless and very disappointed that Tote are dropping it.

Thanks guys.
Weighed in and paid out. 

Yep, money in Tote account too! Will be taking that out sharpish, given they are not hosting the comp this year.

Withdrew mine today too.

Oops, didn,t know!Will have to withdraw mine too! Who,s taking over?

sisyphus • April 27, 2014 9:25 AM BST
The jumps version had its lowest pay out in its history.
They were too embarrassed to print the full leader board with prizes.
The winner won £124,987 the other 9 placed winners shared £37,000.
The monthly prizes were bigger than the majority of leader board places.
I will be concentrating more on Hills's the jumps next year.
This years Flat version is doomed and will lead to its demise.

Very prescient of you, sisyphus!

A prime example of how NOT to run a commercial business enterprise.

I've emailed Hills to ask them where I could find details of their comp, and they've emailed back having never heard of it. 

Oh dear.....will all be fine...we'll get our fix, don't worry!

For those interested, the london racing club is running a 6 to follow for the coming jumps season. www.londonracingclub.org