The Flat season has started to whir into full swing with most reputations still fully intact.

Stars will be born and others will have their bubbles burst as the top meetings come around at a frighteningly rapid rate.

Here’s my ten top horses follow for another fantastic Flat season.

 

Arousing (William Haggas)

Plenty of decent horses have taken their first steps on the road to stardom at Yarmouth’s seaside track. Arousing made the trip from Williams Haggas’ Newmarket stables for her debut and she put in a performance full of promise.

Having fluffed the start, she moved like a quality filly and the way she overcame trouble to put away Sir Michael Stoute’s previous winner Ville De Grace – a good fifth in the Fred Darling already this season – was most impressive.

As a half-sister of multiple Group 1-winner One Master, she is bred to be good and fast. She should develop into a top-class sprinter.

 

Art Power (Tim Easterby)

There were few more progressive sprinters than Art Power last season.

Having had just two runs as a juvenile, he won his first three races of the year before going off second favourite behind brilliant Battaash in the Nunthorpe Stakes.

York’s sharp 5f against one of the fastest horses ever seen was a bit too much for him but he bounced back with solid runs when upped to 6f for Haydock’s Sprint Cup and the British Champions Sprint at Ascot.

The longer distance on soft ground is his ideal conditions and Tim Easterby’s speedster should be able to win one of the top prizes with the Diamond Jubilee, the July Cup and the Sprint Cup all likely to be on his agenda if there’s any juice in the ground.

 

Beau Jardine (Roger Varian)

It’s a daunting task for any two-year-old making their debut on heavy ground.

Experience counts for a lot in backend novice races when the mud is running deep. The fact Beau Jardine was able to slice through the testing conditions to make a winning debut at Newmarket on the penultimate day of October was very pleasing.

Roger Varian’s colt didn’t necessarily look like he wanted it that soft so there was a lot to like about that 7f win. He’ll stay a good bit further this year and there should be plenty of wins following this exciting three-year-old

 

Daddy Frank (John & Thady Gosden)

There’s little doubt the powerful father-and-son team of John and Thady Gosden will have better three-year-olds than Daddy Frank this season.

The son of Frankel, from the family of the owner’s St James’s Palace Stakes hero Without Parole, is yet to win after three starts.

That’s not to say he hasn’t shown a fair bit of ability. He was twice runner-up on the all-weather late last year when he was beaten a neck on both occasions.

It was slightly surprising he even made the track as a two-year-old as he was born very late in the breeding season in June. His comeback run at Nottingham could be considered disappointing as he went off favourite but he looked sure to improve a lot for the run and an opening handicap rating of 81 should give him plenty of opportunities.

I expect Daddy Frank to keep progressing throughout the season.

 

Darlectable You (John & Thady Gosden)

There are few better families than the one Darlectable You belongs to.

As a daughter of multiple Group 1 winner Dar Re Mi, her siblings include top trio Too Darn Hot, Lah Ti Dar and So Mi Dar.

Running in the colours of musical maestro Lord Lloyd-Webber, she made a promising debut when runner-up on the all-weather at Newcastle in December.

Given a break and tasting turf racing for the first time, she narrowly failed to justify her odds-on price in a Newbury fillies’ maiden on her return.

Maybe, making the running didn’t suit her but she is sure to leave that form well behind during the summer. She should be winning Group races at some point.

 

Harlem Soul (Mark Johnston)

Any punters looking for a rich source of winners could do worse than looking out for Mark Johnston’s three-year-olds when they step up to 1m4f or further.

Harlem Soul looks an ideal type for staying handicaps later in the season. This son of Frankel is related to a stack of winners including Ispolini, who twice won Group 3 prizes over 1m6f.

Having had two runs on testing conditions at the backend of last season, Harlem Soul needs one more run to qualify for handicaps.

Given that he is bred to prefer much faster ground, he looks the type that could easily rattle up a string of wins from midsummer.

 

Jasmine Joy (James Fanshawe)

Newmarket trainer James Fanshawe wouldn’t be the first name that springs to mind when you’re talking about juveniles being fully wound up for their debuts.

That makes Jasmine Joy all the more interesting. She travelled through that Doncaster fillies’ maiden very smoothly before finishing a creditable fourth.

Her pedigree suggests she won’t come into her own until she tackles middle-distances so she is one to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

 

Kondo Isami (Mark Johnston)

Named after a legendary Japanese swordsman, Kondo Isami should be slicing his way through handicaps in the coming months.

He has got a stunning pedigree as a son of Galileo and a half-brother to top-class Australian sprinter-turned-ace-stallion Zoustar. 

His three all-weather runs before Christmas suggests he’s inherited plenty of stamina from his dad as his Chelmsford win came over 1m2f.

There’s a fair chance this big, strong colt will be even better on turf and he could be another Mark Johnston three-year-old to put together a string of wins.

 

Sea Empress (William Haggas)

William Haggas isn’t a trainer to hand his horses unrealistic assignments so it says a lot that Sea Empress has a clutch of entries in Group 1 races.

She’s in the Oaks as well as the Irish version and Royal Ascot’s Coronation Stakes. That’s a fair set of targets for a filly with just one run behind her.

She did look very good when beating Teona, herself a highly-rated filly, on Newcastle’s all-weather track in October.

It will be interesting to see where she makes her seasonal return as there’s no doubt Sea Empress is a very exciting filly.

 

Waldkonig (John & Thady Gosden)

Waldkonig has a lot to live up to if he is to uphold the family honour.

He’s a half-brother of Arc de Triomphe hero Waldgeist and he is also related to several other smart performers.

Having made a stunning debut when winning by nine lengths at Wolverhampton, he had the misfortune to bump into top-class Mishriff and Highest Ground last season.

He kicked off this year with a smooth Pontefract success and he again looked good when following up in the Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown.

Waldgeist was a slow-maturing horse and Waldkonig seems to have been cut from the same cloth. There’s every chance he will win more good races this season.