Our latest extract from Timeform's Horses To Follow for the 2024 Flat season focuses on Patrick Jupp's selection, Greek Order.
Greek Order (Harry Charlton)
Greek Order made the cut for last year’s Fifty and the progressive colt was certainly one punters latched onto during the campaign, most notably in the Cambridgeshire for which he was sent off the shortest-priced favourite in the race this century at only 5/2. Greek Order was unable to reward such strong support in that prestigious handicap but he ran a cracker in defeat, finding only one of his 33 rivals too strong. It’s perhaps unsurprising that the well-bred Greek Order—a grandson of the multiple Group 1-winning mare Banks Hill—was so dominant in the Cambridgeshire market as he arrived at Newmarket on a steep upward curve.
He had failed to win in three starts in novice company but he made a successful transition to handicaps at Sandown on Brigadier Gerard night in May, doing well to give his yard its first winner since January considering how keen he proved in the early stages. He again refused to fully settle when next seen in a Newbury handicap in September, but he proved in a different league to his rivals, storming home off the steady gallop to win by four and a half lengths in the style of a colt really going places.
He may have met with defeat on his final two outings of the campaign—in the Cambridgeshire and when a creditable third in a listed event staged on heavy ground back at Newmarket—but that does little to dent his potential and it would be little surprise to see this tall and lightly-raced colt kick on again at four.
Patrick Jupp says:
Greek Order progressed well from just a handful of runs at three and left the firm impression there’s more to come this time around, when I expect him to be more mature, both physically and mentally. He looks just the type to make an impact at pattern class as the season develops, but shorter-term connections may be tempted to exploit what still looks a workable mark and he’ll be high on my shortlist if appearing in any top-end handicaps over a mile or a mile and a quarter this spring.
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