La Conquiere

Her journey to the top has been unusually quick. She broke her duck at Uttoxeter in October 2025, then won a Listed race at Newbury the following month in what her trainer Jamie Snowden described as bolting up — racing slang for winning easily. Snowden, who operates out of Lambourn in Berkshire and has sent out 82 winners this season alone, has clearly had this horse earmarked for big occasions from early on. Post-Newbury, he was already mapping the route to Cheltenham — the sport's most prestigious festival — saying simply: "I think she's very good."

The partnership with jockey Gavin Sheehan is worth noting too. In five races together, they have won two — a win rate of 40%, or 2 in every 5. That is a strong ratio at any level, and Sheehan's own assessment after Newbury was glowing: he said the horse felt "unreal" and that he was comfortable throughout, which is a jockey's way of saying he never had to ask a serious question.

Her most recent start, at Ascot in what Snowden called an open Grade 2 — a top-level race outside the novice ranks — ended in a half-length defeat. But even that loss told a positive story. She had stepped up in class, raced against more experienced horses, and was only narrowly beaten. Snowden learned from it rather than being discouraged by it. Her recent form reads 6-14-2-1-1-2, meaning her last three efforts before that Ascot run were a win, a win, and a close second — a horse moving in the right direction at the right time.

La Conquiere races infrequently — just seven times at seven years old — but Snowden is clearly unbothered by that, having noted she does not need much racing and keeps improving. With Cheltenham on the horizon and a Class 1 win already on her record, this is a horse whose best days look very much like they are still ahead of her.