Illinois

The big one came at Royal Ascot in June 2024, which is about as prestigious as flat racing gets in Britain. Then, not yet finished making his point, Illinois went to Chester in May 2025 and won another Class 1. Chester is a tight, unusual track that plenty of horses never figure out — winning there, at the top level, at three years old, is not something that happens by accident. Across his career he wins roughly 3 in every 10 races overall, but stretch that to his preferred trips — a mile and six furlongs up to two miles, where he has room to stretch out and use his stamina — and he wins 2 from 4, a flat 50 per cent. That is a startling number. At that distance, over that ground, he is almost as likely to win as not.

He is trained by Aidan O'Brien at Cashel in Tipperary, arguably the most powerful flat racing yard in the world, and this season alone that operation has sent out 144 winners. Illinois is one of the more interesting horses in it. O'Brien has spoken about him as a big, still-developing horse — one who needed careful handling early in his career, not over-squeezed for short-term results when the team believed a long campaign lay ahead. Ryan Moore, one of the best jockeys in the sport, has ridden him six times and won twice, a rate of 1 in 3, and after a run in France described him as still a baby with plenty more to come.

The catch is that Illinois hasn't raced in roughly six months. He's due back from a break, which always carries a question mark. But the profile here is of a horse who has already won two of the most important races open to him, who thrives at longer distances, and who his trainer believes has not yet shown his best. At three years old, with that record already behind him, the next chapter is worth paying attention to.