Princess Niyla

Her best ground is normal conditions, where she has won 2 of her 12 races — roughly 1 in every 6. That 17% win rate on standard ground is noticeably better than her overall career figure of 8%, or about 1 win in every 13 races. The message is fairly clear: get her on a decent surface and she becomes a different proposition. She also seems to find her best form over distances of seven furlongs to a mile, winning 1 from 6 at those trips — again that 17% figure pointing to a horse with a genuine sweet spot if everything lines up.

Trained by Alan Brown at his yard in Yedingham, North Yorkshire — a small operation that has still sent out 10 winners this season — Princess Niyla has spent most of her career competing at Class 5 level, which is the bread-and-butter end of British racing. She has won 2 of her 20 races at that level, around 1 in every 10, which is respectable without being exceptional. Rowan Scott rides her most often, with the pair winning together once from 11 races — about 1 in 11 — a partnership that clearly knows each other well even if the big days have been rare.

Her most recent win came at Beverley on 28 May 2025, and her first came at Chester back in July 2023, which tells you she is capable of finding the winning post when conditions suit. But her last six races have returned finishes of 5th, 6th, 5th, 3rd, 5th, and 6th — consistently in the mix but just not quite getting there. She raced just yesterday, so she is firmly in training and active. Whether she can recapture that Beverley winning feeling is the question her trainer will be turning over. The ingredients are still there.