Alice de Clare

The real story is what happens when Alice de Clare gets a race set up at one mile three furlongs to one mile four furlongs. She has won four of her five outings at that distance, an 80 percent win rate that is genuinely remarkable. Those are not fluky wins. When a horse dominates a specific trip like this, it tells you something about her physiology and what she needs to show her best. James Fanshawe's Newmarket yard, which has already sent out 44 winners this season, clearly understands what makes her tick. Her first career win came at Great Yarmouth in April, and she returned to the same track to win again just this week, in mid-September. That is the kind of consistency that racing people notice.

Over eleven races, she has four wins and six places, which works out to a 36 percent win rate — solid rather than spectacular, but the trend is what matters. Four wins in her last six outings is a very different picture from her overall record. She is a horse that was good from the start but is clearly finding another gear now, and at three years old with this kind of current form, there is still room for her to keep climbing the ladder.