Shifra

That victory came just this week at Lingfield Park on 18 June 2026, and it followed a run of results that would test any trainer's patience: a 16th, a blank, and an 8th in the races before it. Pat Phelan, who trains Shifra out of his yard in Epsom, Surrey, clearly kept faith through the lean spell. His team have sent out 8 winners this season, so they know what a horse looks like when it is ready to perform — and they were right to persist.

The most telling detail in Shifra's record is what happens when the trip stretches out. Over distances between a mile and three furlongs and a mile and four furlongs, she has won 1 of 4 races — 25%, or one in every four. That is a meaningful number. It suggests she genuinely needs that extra ground to show her best, and that the yard who have tried her over shorter trips may simply have been running her in the wrong races. Her recent form backs this up: her best finishes, a win and a second place, sit at the top of that recent sequence, while the poorer efforts came earlier.

She has yet to win at Class 4 level — the races she most commonly enters — going 0 from 3 at that grade. The win this week came at a different level, which is worth watching. If Phelan can keep finding the right race at the right distance on fast enough ground, Shifra looks like a horse who could add to that tally sooner rather than later. She raced just yesterday, so there is plenty of momentum in the camp right now.