Sayidah Hard Spun

Her overall record reads two wins and three places from seven races, which works out at winning roughly 1 in every 3.5 races — a 29% win rate that most horses would be happy to match. More encouragingly, two of those wins have come in her last six outings, suggesting she has improved as the season has gone on rather than flattening off. The recent form figures — 10, 5, 3, 1, 6, 1 — tell an interesting story too. Reading right to left (oldest to most recent), you can see a horse that won, dipped, won again, and has since had a couple of quieter runs. That kind of up-and-down pattern is not unusual for a three-year-old still learning the job.

She is trained by Richard Hughes at Upper Lambourn in Berkshire, one of the sport's great training villages tucked into the Berkshire Downs. Hughes has had a productive season — 65 winners sent out already — which tells you this is an operation that knows what it is doing. Horses from a yard firing at that volume tend to be well-placed, meaning they run in races that suit them rather than being thrown in at the deep end. That Sayidah Hard Spun has already won twice under that guidance, including at Ascot, suggests the team have a clear plan for her.

She raced just yesterday, so the yard — the team — are clearly keeping her busy and active. With her Ascot win now nearly nine months in the rearview mirror, the question heading into the rest of the season is whether she can rediscover that form and add a third win to her tally. Given her age, her record, and the yard she is based in, there is every reason to think the best of her is still to come.