Alparslan

He got off the mark at Leicester in August 2025, which is a perfectly ordinary way to start a career — but what has followed is anything but ordinary. His trainer Karl Burke, who operates one of the most productive yards in Britain out of Coverham in North Yorkshire and has sent out 140 winners already this season, had clear ambitions for the horse heading into spring. Burke described him as a smart, strong traveller who progressed well through his first season, and pointed out that a sixth-place finish at Newmarket's Dewhurst Stakes — one of the most prestigious end-of-season races for two-year-olds — was slightly misleading. The undulating Newmarket track simply did not suit him, which is the kind of detail that separates a knowledgeable trainer from someone who would just write off the run.

Burke sent him to Newbury to test how he would handle a longer trip and a bigger occasion, and the horse answered both questions emphatically — winning there just this week. That result matters because Newbury trials are traditionally a stepping stone to the Classics, the most famous races in Britain, and Burke has made no secret of the fact that one of the Guineas races is on the radar. The Guineas are among the very highest level of competition a three-year-old can enter, and the fact that Alparslan's team is seriously considering that route tells you everything about how highly they rate him.

For a horse who has only run four times in his life, Alparslan has already built a record that most racehorses never come close to matching. He wins roughly three in every four races he enters. He has beaten good fields in proper races. And he has a trainer who clearly knows exactly what he is doing with him. Whether he steps up to a Guineas or not, this is a horse worth watching very closely.