Alpine Sierra

The recent form is actually encouraging, in its own way. Three consecutive second-place finishes in the last three runs suggest Alpine Sierra is back in the kind of shape that has it knocking on the door again. It raced just yesterday, which means it is fit, active, and clearly not short of a run. The last win came at Newcastle in December 2024 — 16 months ago now — and before that the first career victory came at Hamilton Park back in May 2022. This is not a horse with a glittering record, but it keeps showing up.

Most of its career has been spent in Class 5 company, which is the bread-and-butter level of British racing — competitive enough that winning is genuinely difficult, but not the top tier. Even there, Alpine Sierra has won just 1 race from 24 at that level, roughly 1 in every 24. Regular partner Paul Mulrennan has ridden it 23 times for a single win together, about 1 in every 23 rides — a partnership that has spent a lot of time finishing second and wondering what might have been.

Trainer Jim Goldie operates out of Uplawmoor in Lanarkshire and has had a productive season, sending out 88 winners. He clearly knows how to place a horse to give it a chance, and Alpine Sierra's current run of placed efforts suggests the team have it aimed right. Whether those places can finally convert back into a win is the question — but with three seconds in a row and clearly in good health, this old campaigner looks as likely to deliver one as it has at any point in the last 16 months.