Northern Champion

The story starts in Deauville, where Northern Champion won on debut. Ed Walker, his trainer, admitted afterwards that his horses don't usually win first time out — so even he was pleasantly surprised. But Walker was quick to add that there was plenty more to come from a horse he clearly rates highly, and that the fast, dry ground there had suited him well. That early confidence turned out to be well-founded.

From France, Northern Champion headed to Dubai for the winter, where he won twice at Meydan. Jockey Kieren Shoemark was candid after one of those wins — the horse did plenty wrong and still came out on top, hitting the line hard when it mattered. That kind of gritty, imperfect win often tells you more about a horse than a clean, comfortable one. He then ran in the Al Quoz Sprint, one of Dubai's most prestigious races, though Walker later explained that was unplanned — the conflict in the region made it difficult for horses and staff to travel, and they ended up staying on for a race that hadn't originally been on the agenda.

Back in Britain, Walker had the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot firmly in his sights — one of the top sprint races for three-year-olds in the country — with a prep run at Haydock's Sandy Lane Stakes mooted as a stepping stone. What we know is that Northern Champion was back winning at Chester just this week, keeping his momentum rolling with a record that now reads 1-1-9-1-1 across his last five races.

Ed Walker's yard at Upper Lambourn has been in terrific form this season, sending out 76 winners already, and Northern Champion looks like one of the yard's flagship horses for the summer. At three years old, with five races and three wins behind him, and a trainer who clearly has big targets in mind, the most exciting chapters of this horse's story may still be ahead.