Katherine

Trained by Adrian Sexton, Katherine is very much a family project. The man most often in the saddle is Mr H E Sexton, who has ridden her in 27 of her 46 races and been aboard for all three of her wins — that's an 11% win rate together, or just over 1 in every 9 rides, which is noticeably better than her overall record suggests. When you know your horse that well, it shows.

There's one condition that really brings out the best in her: slightly soft, rain-softened ground. In those conditions she has won 2 from 11 races — an 18% win rate, or nearly 1 in every 5 — which is more than double her usual level. That's not a coincidence. It's a real and meaningful preference, the kind that a trainer watches the weather forecast for.

Her most recent win came at Fairyhouse in October 2024, and the one before that at Tipperary in July 2023 — so the wins have been spread out, hard-earned, and well remembered. She hasn't won in her last six races, and her recent form figures of 4, pulled up, pulled up, 8, 8, and 13 paint a picture of a horse going through a difficult patch. She raced just yesterday, so she is very much still active and still being campaigned with belief by her team.

At this stage of her career, Katherine isn't a horse chasing big prizes — her story is a different kind of interesting. She's the sort of horse that a small yard builds their season around, that a jockey knows better than almost any other, and that occasionally, on a wet day on the right track, reminds everyone exactly why they kept faith with her.