Aberama Gold

The numbers back that up in striking fashion. On fast, dry ground he wins 3 races from every 9 (33%). On very wet, muddy ground — the kind that puts other horses off — he wins 3 from just 4 (75%). That second figure is extraordinary. Three-quarters of his races in the worst conditions end in victory. For context, most good racehorses win somewhere between 1 in 6 and 1 in 8 races across their careers. Aberama Gold, in the mud, wins three times as often as that.

His finest stretch came in the summer of 2023, when he strung together wins in three top-level races inside three months — at York in July, Goodwood in August, and Doncaster in October, all Class 2 races, which are among the best races in Britain. The Goodwood win came on conditions the owner had predicted he would handle better than most, and it was described afterwards as very straightforward. O'Meara, who inherited the horse from Scottish trainer Keith Dalgleish, was generous enough to say he could not take much credit — the horse arrived already made. That honesty is rather telling: Aberama Gold is the kind of horse who teaches you things, not the other way around.

Overall, he has won 10 races from 87, which works out at roughly 1 in every 9 — a modest headline figure, but one that disguises how effective he can be in the right conditions. His most trusted jockey is Daniel Tudhope, who has won 5 of their 15 races together, a rate of 1 in 3. His most recent win came at Catterick Bridge just six weeks ago, and with his last run only yesterday, he remains very much in action. O'Meara has suggested this could be an "in" year — and given what Aberama Gold looked like in 2023, that is not a prediction to ignore lightly.