Cheshire Dancer

Across 21 races she has won 4 times and placed on 11 further occasions — a win rate of roughly 1 in every 5 races, which is a solid return at her level. She tends to run in Class 4 company, the bread-and-butter tier of the sport, where she has won 3 of her 8 races (37%). But the Ascot win last July showed she can do far more than that. Palmer had been plotting a tilt at the Kensington Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in June — one of the sport's grand summer showcases — and though that plan evolved, the ambition behind it tells you exactly what the yard thinks of her.

Her best racing comes over seven furlongs to a mile, where she has won 2 of her 6 races at those distances (33%), and Ascot in particular seems to suit her. Jockey David Probert, who has ridden her to 2 wins from just 5 races together — a remarkable rate of 40%, or 2 in every 5 — described her Ascot win as a "brilliant run," noting she enjoys the track. Those two do appear to bring out the best in each other.

Her recent form reads 11-8-5-10-7-1, which looks patchy until you remember that the 1 is a Class 1 win at Ascot. She raced just yesterday and remains in active work, trained out of Hugo Palmer's yard in Malpas, Cheshire — a stable that has sent out 67 winners already this season, which is a serious operation. Cheshire Dancer has not always lit up the form book, but when she finds her moment and her track, she can beat the best.