Mgheera

The six-year-old has raced seven times in total, winning once and placing twice, which works out at roughly 1 win from every 7 races. That is a modest record on paper, but it rather misses the point. Mgheera is not a horse who races often — she is a horse who races at the top. All three of her Class 1 appearances have come at the highest level, and she has won one of them, a 33% conversion rate that most elite sprinters would settle for. Her trainer Ed Walker, based at Upper Lambourn, is having a serious season — his yard has sent out 76 winners this season — and he clearly rates her highly.

What gives Mgheera her character is the detail. She is, by her trainer's own admission, always slowly away from the starting stalls. In most races, that is a problem. But Walker believes the famous stiff five-furlong straight at Royal Ascot — where the course rises and rewards horses who are finishing strongest — could actually suit the way she races. The plan, for now, is Ascot. After that, Walker has hinted there is a chance she could travel to Australia, though he is quietly pushing the owners to keep her in Europe long enough to take on a Nunthorpe Stakes, one of the most prestigious sprint races in the calendar. She wouldn't be angling for that if she didn't think she belonged there.

Her recent form reads 14-5-6-8-2 going backwards from her Haydock win, so the last six runs have produced nothing in the winner's enclosure. But those numbers were also taken before she switched yards and arrived from France, where Walker says she won at Longchamp on fast, dry ground — a surface her jockey Oisin Murphy had already identified as her favourite. A horse who travels, improves, and wins at the top level in two countries is worth paying attention to.