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A slightly different tone to My Timeform this week, as Keith Melrose picks out three horses that ran on Champions Day that you should be watching out for in 2016.

The Tin Man – Champions Sprint Stakes

Plenty was made of the fact that The Tin Man was taken out of the Champions Sprint Stakes, only to be put back in after dotting up in a C&D handicap early this month. We’d do well to remember the presumed reason he was forfeited in the first place, that a big-field Group 1 would come too soon for a horse just five months and five starts into his career. That he evidently wasn’t over-faced (he finished a creditable fourth to Muhaarar) is a strong endorsement for The Tin Man next year. He will start 2016 as essentially an unexposed four-year-old, albeit one that made a very good fist of his first try in a Group 1. With Muhaarar off the scene, there is a space at the top over six furlongs and, along with Twilight Son, The Tin Man is among the prime candidates to fill it.

Jack Hobbs – Champion Stakes

When John Gosden flipped plans for Jack Hobbs and Golden Horn, sending the former to the Champion Stakes and the latter to the Arc, it was easy to see the tactical merit of the switch: by sending the better horse to the stronger race, he was maximising his chances of winning with both. Golden Horn won the Arc, of course, but things didn’t turn out right for Jack Hobbs on Saturday, while it shouldn’t be overlooked that the Champion Stakes turned out to be better than expected.

That Jack Hobbs was the original ‘Arc horse’ from Gosden’s yard should be borne in mind. Though a true middle-distance horse that can be effective at 10 or 12 furlongs, he’s more of a travels-and-stays type, lacking the change of pace that Golden Horn has used to win many of his races, and they tend to do a bit better over the longer trip. He’s also by Halling, whose progeny tend to stay well and develop with age, so we’re very much looking forward to his four-year-old season. There’s a blueprint for campaigning horses of Jack Hobbs’s ilk, drawn up by the likes of Sir Michael Stoute and Luca Cumani, but don’t bank on self-styled maverick Gosden following it to the letter.

Spark Plug – Balmoral Handicap

Spark Plug’s season has been one of many disappointments and one stroke of luck, which came in May when one of the few bum notes played by Frankie Dettori in 2015 allowed him to beat GM Hopkins at Newbury. Spark Plug hasn’t made the frame in five starts since, though he can hardly be blamed for falling in the Hunt Cup (won by GM Hopkins, of course) or for being set too much to do on a couple of occasions.

There was an element of the same about Spark Plug’s run in the Balmoral Handicap on Saturday. Drawn in stall 22, he was in the group that eventually merged with the far-side group and raced on the flank of it. As such, when things started to warm up he was a long way back and a little isolated. By the time he got going the principals were beyond recall, yet he nonetheless stayed on well for fifth. Now only 2 lb higher than when winning at Newbury and perhaps not fully exposed yet, Spark Plug will presumably contest some of the top mile handicaps in the early stages of the 2016 Flat turf season and wouldn’t be a forlorn hope for races like the Lincoln and Spring Cup.