Blue Bolt

Trained by Andrew Balding at Kingsclere in Hampshire, Blue Bolt has graduated quickly through the grades. It recorded its first career win at Windsor on 19 May, then returned to the same track in June to win a Class 2 race. Two weeks later, it stepped up to tackle Newbury's Class 2 contest and won again. The real statement came in early July when Blue Bolt tackled a Class 1 race at Sandown—one of the toughest assignments in British racing—and won decisively. While the horse has managed just one win from three attempts at the highest level, that solitary victory at Sandown last week showed it belongs in that company.

The partnership with jockey Colin Keane has been particularly fruitful. Keane has ridden Blue Bolt five times and boasts a 60 per cent win rate in the saddle—three wins from five rides. At Newmarket, where Blue Bolt races most often, the horse is something of a specialist: two wins from three races at the track, and it returned to the course just this week to record another victory. With such a punishing schedule and such consistent success, Blue Bolt looks built for the big occasions.