Elegant Erin

Her recent form reads 10-4-3-3-6-12 across her last six runs, which reveals a horse in decent form but struggling to convert efforts into victories. She raced just yesterday, so she remains active and in work. Paul Midgley, her trainer at Westow in North Yorkshire, describes her as "an absolute sweetheart" and genuinely loves her presence in the yard. She notes that a lack of early pace has been a problem — at Pontefract, that weakness showed — and that she thrives when asked to gallop end-to-end over a stiff five furlongs. Ground conditions suit her well: she has won 3 of 8 races (38%) on fast, dry ground and remarkably, 3 of 7 races (43%) on wet or muddy ground, making her adaptable.

The Class 2 win at Beverley last September was built on perfect circumstances. Midgley entered her, then declared her to run because there were few other runners. The handicapper threw 5lb on her that morning, but she decided to take a chance and went ahead — and it paid off spectacularly. She rightly called it "massive." She loves Beverley more than anywhere else on the track, and the soft ground that day played to her strengths. David Nolan has ridden her 14 times but won only twice together (14%), so their record is below her overall average. At Class 4 level, where she races most often, she has won 4 of 17 starts (24%), a solid win rate at that grade. She is sound and honest, a horse that the yard clearly value beyond what the record books might suggest, and they are actively looking for her next opportunity to find more black-type success.