The recent form makes for interesting reading: second, second, second, and a fifth on her debut. In other words, she has been placed in every race since that first outing, and placed right at the sharp end each time. She has not won, but she has not fallen away either. She is learning, improving, and consistently finishing ahead of most of her rivals — just not quite ahead of all of them.
What gives this a different dimension is who is training her. Charlie Appleby's Newmarket yard has sent out 122 winners already this season — a number that puts it among the most productive operations in British racing. When a yard is firing at that rate, horses in the care of that team tend to be placed in races they are expected to be competitive in, and managed with patience. The fact that City Queen keeps running second rather than disappearing down the field suggests the team believe the win is not far away.
She has raced at Class 4 level for three of her four outings, which is solidly mid-tier racing — not the very top, but not the bottom rungs either. At that level, finishing second three times without a win to show for it could mean one of two things: she is a horse that needs to step up in quality to find easier company at the front, or she is simply waiting for the right day and the right race. Either way, with Appleby in her corner and her last run just 19 days ago, she is clearly being kept in training and pointed at another opportunity. The win is overdue. Whether it comes next time out is the question worth watching.
| Course | Races | Results | Last visited | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwell Galloping |
2 | 2 seconds | 10 Mar | 0% |
| Wolverhampton Galloping |
1 | 1 second | 23 Feb | 0% |
| Newmarket Galloping |
1 | 1 other | 22 Aug | 0% |