Opera Ballo

Those wins include two Class 1 races — the top tier of British racing. It won at Sandown Park in May 2025 and then at Newmarket's July course the following month. These are not soft targets. Class 1 races are where the best horses in the country are sent, and Opera Ballo has won half of the four it has entered at that level. That 2-from-4 record at the top of the sport is the kind of thing that gets people genuinely excited about a horse's future.

The recent form makes it even harder to argue against. In its last six races, Opera Ballo has won four and finished second once, with just one unplaced run in between. It raced just this week, winning again at Sandown Park on 24 April 2026 — so this is a horse in the form of its life, right now, not coasting on old glories. When a horse wins at the top level and then comes back out days later and wins again, that tells you something real about its constitution and its class.

William Buick, one of the most respected jockeys in British racing, has ridden Opera Ballo in 6 of its races and won 4 of them — a 67% win rate together, which is extraordinary. A jockey and horse that understand each other that well is a genuine advantage, and Buick choosing to ride the same horse repeatedly is itself a signal worth noticing.

Behind the horse is trainer Charlie Appleby, whose Newmarket yard has sent out 121 winners already this season alone. That is not a coincidence — Appleby's operation is one of the most formidable in the sport, and Opera Ballo fits the profile of the horses they bring to the biggest occasions and expect to perform. Everything about this horse's profile — the level it races at, the consistency, the timing of its wins — points to a horse operating right at the top of its game.