Loquella

What the numbers do hint at is where Loquella is most dangerous. Over the shorter distances — between five and six-and-a-half furlongs, essentially the sprint trips — it has won one from three races, a win rate of 33%, or one in every three attempts. For a horse with only five races under its belt, that is an encouraging pattern. Sprint races are often decided by raw speed and a willingness to be competitive from the first stride, and the fact that Loquella places so regularly suggests it is rarely out of the argument.

The horse is trained by Charlie Johnston at Middleham Moor in North Yorkshire, which is about as good an address as a young racehorse can have. Johnston's yard has sent out 131 winners this season alone — that is a serious, high-functioning stable — and horses trained there tend to be placed with care and campaigned intelligently. That context matters, because it suggests Loquella is not being thrown in at the deep end; the team know what they are doing.

The slight question mark hanging over the profile is that winning run at Newcastle is now seven months old, and the most recent form — finishing fifth and sixth in its last two races — suggests the horse has not quite recaptured that moment. At three, that is not unusual; the division gets more competitive through the summer and improvement takes time. Whether Loquella can find that winning feeling again will make for an interesting few months.