Lake Forest

That one Class 1 win came at York on 25 August 2023, and it is the moment that defines Lake Forest's profile. York's Ebor meeting is one of the great occasions in the British racing calendar, and winning there at the top level marks a horse out as genuinely smart. The first win had come just over two months earlier at Haydock Park in June of the same year — so Lake Forest found its feet quickly and then immediately stepped up to the highest grade to claim a race that will stay on its record forever.

Since then, though, the wins have dried up. Lake Forest has not won in its last 6 races, and that York victory is now 32 months in the past — a long time in any sport. The recent form shows consistent efforts, with three runner-up finishes in the last six outings, which suggests the horse is competitive but has been finding at least one rival too good. Whether that gap can be closed is the question.

Tom Marquand has been the regular partner throughout, riding in 11 of the 12 races and winning 2 of them — roughly 1 in every 5.5 rides together, which is a solid relationship at this level. The distances where Lake Forest has shown most are the shorter end of the speed trips, 5 furlongs to 6 and a half, where it has won 2 of 7 races, or just under 1 in 3. That is a meaningfully better record than across its career overall.

Now returning from a break of roughly 7 months — 218 days since it last raced — Lake Forest comes back with something to prove. The talent that won at York is clearly in there. The question is whether this is the campaign that brings it back out.