Friendly Soul

What makes those numbers even more striking is the level at which they have been achieved. Two of those three wins have come in Class 1 races — the absolute top tier of British racing. Winning once at that level is a significant achievement; winning twice, at Newmarket in May 2024 and then at Ascot two months later in July, suggests a horse that genuinely belongs in the best company. Ascot and Newmarket are not just any venues — they are the two most prestigious tracks in the country, the kind of places where reputations are made. Friendly Soul has won at both.

The one obvious caveat is time. That Ascot victory was now 610 days ago — roughly 20 months — and the horse has not raced since. A gap that long is never nothing; it raises questions about whether the horse returns in the same form, and whether a three-year-old who has been off the track for the best part of two years will need time to find its rhythm again. The form line does show a seventh-place finish sandwiched between the wins, so it is not a horse without a blemish — but the overall picture is of a genuinely high-class animal that has repeatedly delivered when asked.

The team behind Friendly Soul is John and Thady Gosden, the father-and-son training operation based in Newmarket that has become one of the most formidable yards in Britain. With 136 winners already on the board this season, this is not a stable that lacks for confidence or ammunition. When a yard of that calibre has kept a horse off the track for this long, the expectation is that they have been patient for a reason. Whether Friendly Soul can return and pick up where it left off — winning top-level races at the country's finest tracks — is one of the more intriguing questions whenever this horse reappears.