Granny Hawkins

The real story is what happens when Tom Bellamy gets into the saddle. The jockey has ridden her six times and won three of those races — a fifty-fifty win rate that tells you something clicks between them. Their last win came at Stratford-on-Avon in April, six months ago, and that kind of partnership can carry a horse a long way, especially one as modest in terms of prize money as this one. Trained by Alan King at Wroughton in Wiltshire, Granny Hawkins belongs to a yard absolutely buzzing this season with fifty-seven winners already on the board.

There is also a course where this horse genuinely excels. At Hereford, she has won two of her three races — a win rate that would make any owner sit up. It is at Class 5 level that she finds her sweet spot, winning one in every four races (2 from 8), though the recent setback will complicate matters. A fall at Hereford last week left her with a cut that needed stitches, and her trainer is clear that she will be sidelined for a spell. The news is compounded by the fact that she does not enjoy racing on wet or muddy ground, and winter will only make that worse. For now, Granny Hawkins will have to wait for the ground to firm up and her wounds to heal before she can get back to doing what she does best.