Betty's Tiara

The real story is how differently she performs depending on the track and the conditions. In Class 4 races — the bread-and-butter level where she typically competes — she has won only 1 of 14, a win rate that barely breaks 7 percent and hints at her struggles against horses of that calibre. But she made her winning debut at Stratford-on-Avon back in August 2023, which showed early promise, and she has since added two more wins to her tally, suggesting she is capable of landing a blow when the stars align. Her recent form tells a mixed story: a fifth-place finish most recently, preceded by a ninth, a seventh, an eighth, and a win before that, which reads like a horse treading water rather than heading in any particular direction.

Pauling, who has sent out 91 winners from his yard this season alone, clearly sees something in her. She has spoken positively about her attitude and her performances, including a narrow loss at Aintree where she was running under a penalty and came away with credit. The trainer backed her to run in a Listed mares' race at Cheltenham, a significant step up from her usual Class 4 company, which suggests she believes she has more to offer than her bare record indicates. Ben Jones, her most frequent rider, has not yet found the winner's circle aboard her across ten attempts, but that tells you more about the difficulty of her task than any weakness in either horse or jockey.