Maltese Cross

The horse broke its duck at Newmarket back in September 2025, and things have barely slowed down since. Its recent form reads 2-1-1-1-2 — that string of ones in the middle tells the story of a horse in the form of its life, winning three of its last five outings. The most recent victory came at Lingfield Park just four weeks ago, and with a race just yesterday, Maltese Cross is very much in the thick of an active campaign. This is not a horse being carefully preserved between rare appearances — it is being kept busy, and it keeps delivering.

Behind all of this is William Haggas, one of the most respected trainers in British racing. Based in Newmarket, his yard has sent out 170 winners already this season alone. To put that in perspective, most trainers would consider 50 winners a good year — 170 is a number that speaks to an operation running at an almost industrial level of excellence. When a horse comes out of that yard with a 60% win rate, you can be fairly confident the talent is real, because the competition for resources and attention in a yard that size is fierce. Haggas does not run horses for the sake of it.

Maltese Cross is young, in form, and backed by one of the sharpest outfits in the country. The record so far — three wins, five places, and not a single unplaced finish from five races — suggests a horse that simply does not have bad days. Whether that holds as the competition stiffens will be the interesting question, but right now, everything points upward.