Best & Worst of 2011 / Editor / 20 December 2011 /

In part two, Timeform experts select their best and worst and select their bets for 2012, including an intriguing Grand National pick...

David Johnson - Flat Editor

Moment of 2011: There can only be one, the Sussex Stakes. They said it was the Duel on the Downs. Timeform said Frankel had 9lb in hand of Canford Cliffs. Hughesey said I didn't see which way he went.

Performance of 2011: Mick Easterby producing Hoof It to win the Stewards' Cup running to a Timeform rating of 128 was one of the handicapping performances of the decade, but it wasn't half as impressive as his performance of convincing all and sundry that Electioneer was gone at the game before landing a mighty gamble at Southwell, coinciding with the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival.

Hero of 2011: It has to be Frankel. Every time connections went to the well he delivered. All we need in 2012 is for them to maybe go a bit more often, and ideally try a different well, one that isn't just up the road from Excelebration.

Villain of 2011: Rocket Rob, for being sufficiently on the downgrade to ensure he failed to win a race all year, but shaping well enough on numerous occasions to ensure that over the course of the season I lost something resembling the GDP of a small third-world nation. He's one to follow in 2012, maybe at Southwell on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival.

Bet of 2012: Sadly there isn't yet a market for the Britannia at Royal Ascot, for which John Hills' well-named Johnno will prove a good thing. So instead, I'll suggest John Gosden's The Fugue for the Oaks. Rated 93P, she did what the same connections' Dar Re Mi couldn't do in winning the corresponding Newmarket maiden in impressive fashion first time out.

Pat Jupp - Irish Editor

Moment of 2011: Joseph O'Brien becoming the youngest jockey to win a Breeders' Cup race when partnering St Nicholas Abbey in the Turf at Churchill Downs. An exemplary ride on one of racing's biggest days demonstrated his talents to a wider audience and silenced the doubters.

Performance of 2011: Dermot Weld at Galway. The master of Rosewall has built up an incredible record at this meeting over the years and outdid himself in 2011, saddling a record-breaking seventeen winners at the week-long Festival.

Hero of 2011: Hurricane Fly. Unbeaten in five Grade 1s in 2010/11, including the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, this was the year he overcame his fragility and established himself as the top two-mile hurdler in training.

Villain of 2011: The Stewards who accepted the explanation offered for the short-head defeat of The Real Article at Tipperary rather than referring it on to a higher authority (rider instructed to push the horse out but not hit him).

Bet for 2012: Organisedconfusion for the Grand National. Relished the emphasis on stamina when taking the Irish equivalent last April and has already shown his wellbeing over hurdles this campaign.

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