Rosy Affair

The numbers back it up. Across 12 races, she has won 4 and placed in 10, giving her a win rate of roughly 1 in every 3 — which is exceptional. Her recent form reads 1-4-4-3-2-2 going backwards, and while the placings outnumber the wins, she has barely been out of the frame. The concern for some will be that she has not raced in eight months, but her trainer George Boughey — whose Newmarket yard has fired out 105 winners this season alone, so they know how to keep horses sharp — has been deliberate about it. He considered sending her to Dubai over the winter, which would have been a significant trip for a five-year-old, but decided patience was the smarter play.

The ground matters a great deal with Rosy Affair. On fast, dry ground she has won 3 of her 4 races — a 75% win rate that is startling. On anything softer, the results dry up. Anyone watching her this summer should have one eye on the forecast.

Jockey Billy Loughnane has been the man in the saddle for most of her career and the partnership is clearly working. Together they have won 3 of their 7 races — that is 43%, or close to winning nearly half the time they go out — which is the kind of figure that makes a trainer keep coming back to the same booking.

Boughey has spoken about aiming her at Royal Ascot, one of the biggest weeks in the racing calendar, with a likely stepping-stone race beforehand. For a horse who was winning modest midweek races just over a year ago, that is a serious ambition — and based on what Rosy Affair showed last August, not an unreasonable one.