Some Pretender

Her record reads one win and four places from seven races, which works out at roughly 1 in every 7 races ending in a win. That is not a flashy number, but it tells only part of the story. Five of her seven races have produced a top-three finish, meaning she is consistently competitive — she just hasn't found a way to get her head in front very often. Her recent run of results (fifth, fifth, eighth, then three thirds in a row before that) paints a picture of a horse who keeps showing up but has been waiting for things to click.

That click came at Galway in August 2025, when she won for the first time. Mullins was relaxed about it afterwards, saying the team had been confident heading there and that she had done exactly what they hoped. He also flagged something worth noting: he thinks there could be more improvement in her when the ground gets softer and wetter. For a horse who has spent most of her career on more standard conditions, that is an interesting suggestion — it implies the surface may have been limiting her rather than her ability.

Since that Galway win, she has not won again across six races, which sounds concerning until you consider that she has kept placing and kept running. Her most recent outing, just yesterday, ended in fifth at Navan, and Mullins described her as having run well for a long way before tiring late on. Crucially, he added that he is sure there is more to come from her.

Whether that improvement arrives on genuinely wet ground, as her trainer believes, or at a track that suits her better, Some Pretender looks like a horse still working her way towards her ceiling rather than one who has already hit it.