Mother Dear

Her first win came at Goodwood in May, and that Pontefract victory this week shows she can win at different tracks and still be a threat. Hughie Morrison's yard at East Ilsley has been firing this season with 20 winners, so Mother Dear is part of a stable in good form. The real pattern in her recent racing, though, is how up-and-down it's been: a win, then sixth, then fifth, then another win, then eighth. That's not the profile of a horse you'd back with confidence every time, but it does mean the potential is clearly there. When everything lines up—the ground, the pace, the opposition—she can find the line first. The question is whether Morrison can work out what that formula is and repeat it more often.