Alyara

Both of those career wins have come at distances of a mile and a furlong to a mile and two furlongs, going 2 from 28 races at that range. That 7% win rate at those trips might sound modest, but it's more than double the overall career figure, which tells you something real: get Alyara in the right race at the right distance, and it's a different horse. The first win came at Ffos Las in August 2022, and the second — more recently — at Southwell in December 2024, fifteen months ago now. Two wins, two different tracks, spread more than two years apart. This is a horse that makes you wait.

The partnership with jockey Dylan Hogan is worth noting. Together they've won 1 from 6 races — roughly 1 in every 6 rides — which at 17% is a meaningfully better record than the horse manages overall. That's the kind of number that suggests Hogan gets something out of this horse that others don't. Trainer Joe Ponting, based in Wotton-Under-Edge in Gloucestershire, has sent out 3 winners this season, so the yard is ticking over quietly rather than setting the world alight.

Recent form offers little encouragement — finishing fifth, seventh, seventh, fourth, fifth, and eighth across the last six races, with no win in that stretch. Alyara raced just five days ago and is clearly still in active training, which means another run could come soon. For a casual observer, this is a horse that probably won't win next time out. But then again, it probably won't win the time after that either — and yet somehow, twice now, it has. That's the thing about horses like Alyara: they remind you that even at the modest end of the sport, there's always a reason to watch.