Modern Style

Both wins have come in a very short window. The first arrived at Exeter on 17 April 2026, and the second followed just five days later at Taunton on 22 April. Back-to-back wins within a week is no coincidence — that is a horse that had found its confidence and was running with it. That Taunton win was roughly 3 months ago, and Modern Style raced again just yesterday, so the team clearly feels there is more to come.

The key to understanding this horse is distance. Over 2 miles or further, Modern Style has won 2 of 6 races — a win rate of 33%, or 1 in every 3. That is a notably strong return, and it tells you something important: this is a horse that wants to run. It needs time to build into a race, to find its rhythm and stretch out. Give it a proper test and it tends to deliver. Try to squeeze it into something shorter and you are not really seeing what it can do.

Nigel Hawke trains out of Stoodleigh in Devon, and the yard has been in excellent shape this season with 12 winners already on the board. A trainer sending horses out at that rate is not one who runs them for the sake of it — there is a plan at work. Modern Style, with its clear preference for longer trips and its obvious upturn in form over spring 2026, looks like a horse that suits Hawke's patient approach very well. Whether it can add a third win to the tally soon is the question, but based on recent evidence, you would not be surprised if it did.