At the start of the Flat season Racing Writer Colin Woods (Janus) picked his ten-to-follow in our Racing North pull-out. Here's his progress report on their performances so far . . . . .

EVEN on a purely fun basis, backing racehorses is a precarious hobby at the best of times, so it is with great glee that my mid-term report reveals a tidy £11.64 profit to a £1 level stake for fans the Racing North ten-to-follow list.

Beating the bookmakers at their own game is no easy task, but with two money-spinning aces in our pack, namely Attraction and Steel Blue, we're already nicely in pocket and hopefully not finished yet.

Incredibly, strike one came on the very first day of the Flat turf season, when Steel Blue blasted his way to a stunning 16-1 six-furlong win at Doncaster's Lincoln meeting. It was a fairytale start, justifying a gut feeling that off a rating of 82 he was at least one step ahead of the Official Handicapper.

Those figures stacked up as far as judge and jury were concerned because exactly two months later, Blue Steel went to Ripon and defied top-weight, plus a mark of 85, to help with the week's shopping at a highly-rewarding 10-1.

Unfortunately he then shot up the ratings, although still managed a creditable third place in the Gosforth Park Cup at Newcastle off a career-high mark of 95.

In between Steel Blue's brace, Granston, another individual carefully selected through copious research, scorched to a 4-1 success at Ripon in the third week of April.

The James Bethell-trained grey benefited from a gelding operation over the winter and with his wedding tackle now a thing of the past might still be capable of spinning the wheel of fortune to further advantage during the coming months.

The star of the show, Attraction, whose picture was emblazoned in full colour across the front page of our annual pull-out, began her 2004 campaign in sensational fashion with a barn-storming all-the-way 11-2 triumph in the 1,000 Guineas on May 2 at Newmarket.

The Duke Of Roxburghe's flying machine then went to the Curragh three weeks later and became the first filly to complete the English/Irish 1,000 Guineas Classic double, pulverising her rivals under another pillar-to-post steering job by Kevin Darley.

Attraction's Curragh odds of 2-1 were still perfectly acceptable and it came as a handy bonus to see the layers chalk up an over-generous starting price of 6/4 for her third Group 1 triumph on the bounce in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 18.

By now the great British racing public had taken Attraction to their hearts and she put an extra 5,000 spectators on the gate when turning out for the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket's July meeting.

Sadly, even she could not sustain the momentum, however there was no disgrace when, taking on the older fillies, she failed to hold the late surge of Soviet Song under a typically canny ride from Irish top-gun, Johnny Murtagh.

Trainer Mark Johnston took the defeat on the chin and Attraction is now enjoying a well-deserved summer break, prior to a planned autumn campaign sure to be carefully plotted by the Duke and her all-conquering Middleham-based handler.

Johnston is also responsible for two other picks, Shanty Star, a bitter disappointment to date, and Mister Monet, who much more encouragingly could conceivably be our standard-bearer for the latter half of the season.

A minor setback kept the three-year-old colt on the sidelines until reappearing a couple of weeks ago at Newmarket, where he was heart-breakingly caught slap-bang on the wire by the Eddie Ahern-partnered Keehar.

At odds of 12-1 it was an agonisingly narrow short-head reverse, nevertheless Mister Monet (runs 2.35 Ascot today) has since returned for a facile 4/7 victory at Hamilton and there's a distinct possibility the son of Peintre Celebre is something pretty special.

Of the others, the fast ground has screwed up the mudlark Abbajabba's prospects, a remark which also applies to soft-surface specialist Somnus, who may yet successfully defend his Group 1 crown in September's Stanley Leisure Sprint Cup at Haydock.

Richard Fahey's efforts to get a tune out of Philharmonic have thus far been in vain, while Patrick Haslam's Kinnaird has twice fruitlessly taking on Attraction. That only leaves Tim Easterby's Jeepstar, who after three duck eggs came good with a valiant second at Ayr on his latest run over an inadequate ten furlongs - look out for him once stepped up to a mile-and-a-half.

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