At the start of each Flat season, Colin Woods (Janus) gives The Northern Echo readers his ten-to-follow. Here's his mid-term report with the current star being Tom Tate's giant bay gelding, Another Bottle.

ASSIDUOUS followers of our popular Racing North ten-to-follow feature are currently sitting on a tidy £15.70 profit to a level £1 stake at this crucial mid-term stage of the Flat season.

The star of the show so far by a country mile is Tom Tate's giant bay gelding, Another Bottle. He's run just four times since the publication of Racing North in March, starting his 2005 campaign with a spanking 16-1 victory at Ripon.

Next up Tate despatched his horse to Redcar for a crack at the Zetland Gold Cup, but he was unluckily trapped wide for most of that valuable contest and as a result could never land a telling blow.

Another Bottle then bounced back with a good second at Newcastle, prior to landing a prestigious handicap at Newbury last weekend, again handsomely rewarding his supporters by virtue of a money-spinning 13-2 starting price.

Let It Be has also done us proud, notching two from five, as well as making the frame on a couple of occasions.

Keith Reveley's three-year-old was wickedly whacked up 10lbs by the Official Handicapper for her initial 11-4 Redcar triumph, however the ratings' expert proved absolutely spot-on because Let It Be defied that huge hike in the weights with a gritty 7-2 success at Haydock a fortnight ago.

Numerically speaking Mark Johnston has easily the biggest representation with four of the ten selections in the guise of Attraction, Brahminy Kite, Crosspeace, plus Quizzene, all hailing from his Middleham stronghold.

The master of Kingsley House rarely lets the column down and once again the shrewd Scottish vet-turned-trainer has come up trumps.

Quizzene kick-started the classy quartet into action with a clear-cut 11-4 Sandown success over a ten furlongs in April, a victory the chunky round-barrelled grey supplemented by justifying a massive 13-8 market plunge at Chester's May meeting.

Crosspeace added to the Johnston tally by grinding out a 9-2 win in the Newmarket Handicap, and although he hasn't been seen out since, the overall progressive form profile suggests the colt has yet to get his best clubs out of the bag.

To say Brahminy Kite was thrown in at the deep-end could only be described as an understatement, seeing as he made his long-awaited comeback in no lesser race than Royal Ascot at York's Group 2 King Edward V11 Stakes.

To get within three-quarters of a length of John Gosden's Plea Bargain in the immensely competitive mile-and-a-half event was a magnificent effort, as was his subsequent fourth placing in the Irish Derby late last month.

The only real disappointment of Johnston's squad has been the star filly Attraction, who failed to cut any ice on her sole 2005 start out in Hong Kong. Last year's dual English and Irish 1000 heroine sustained an injury in the Far-East, which was compounded by a subsequent bruised foot and only now is she about ready to make a welcome return to the track.

Mark's near neighbour, Chris Thornton, chipped in a sole success via Lets Roll, who under a canny ride from the hugely promising young apprentice, Danny Tudhope, rode his rival jockeys to sleep with a brilliant tactical front-running performance at Ayr.

Lets Roll has run five times in all this term, therefore he's only showing a small deficit having prevailed at odds of 11-4 at the Scottish seaside track.

Kevin Ryan's Up Tempo has similarly got his name on the scoresheet just once, taking a Redcar claimer in workmanlike fashion at 2-1. His other five outings have resulted in defeat, none the less provided Kevin keeps him out of handicaps and in lower grade company, Up Tempo should find at least one more race before the end of the season.

By a process of elimination that simply leaves King Revo and Somnus, neither having covered themselves in glory from an admittedly light campaign totalling four racecourse forays.

I still have the high hopes for the pair, King Revo in staying races such as the Cesarewitch, while Tim Easterby's Somnus is a top-class soft-ground sprinter, likely to come into his own as soon as the current dry spell gives way to wetter weather.

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