Alba Chiara

That first win finally came at Down Royal on 5 September 2025, and the setting felt appropriate. Down Royal is the local track for trainer Natalia Lupini, whose yard is based just down the road in Banbridge, Co Down — and winning on home turf always carries a little extra weight. Lupini's team have been in good nick this season, sending out 17 winners, so there is clearly something working at that yard.

The one puzzle worth noting is the partnership with Wayne Lordan, who has been the regular jockey across six of Alba Chiara's races without the two of them finding the winner's enclosure together. That 0 from 6 record is not necessarily damning — plenty of horses win first time with a new rider, or finally click with a regular partner at just the right moment — but it does make you wonder whether a change in the saddle might unlock something. It was not Lordan who got the win on the board on 5 September, and that detail alone is worth keeping in mind.

Recent form shows a couple of blanks followed by a second place and then the win, which is a classic pattern of a horse finding her feet and peaking at just the right time. She raced just one day ago, so she is clearly being kept busy. Whether Lupini can find another opportunity for her to repeat that Down Royal success remains to be seen, but Alba Chiara is the kind of horse who will keep turning up and making races competitive. Sometimes that persistence is all it takes.