Sparks Fly

Her record on wet ground borders on freakish. On genuinely wet or muddy ground she has won 3 from 3 — a perfect record. Broaden that out to any kind of soft conditions and she has won 6 of her 7 races. Her trainer David Loughnane, who operates out of Stoke Heath in Shropshire, is completely clear-eyed about what she needs: "Soft ground is paramount for her." He has admitted to kicking himself after one run at York when he walked the track beforehand and could tell the ground was too fast — and she flopped accordingly. When she gets her conditions, the results speak for themselves.

Windsor is another quirk worth noting. She has won all 3 races she has run there — a course record that hints at something beyond just ground preference, perhaps the left-handed, flat nature of the track suiting how she moves. Loughnane has mentioned she is noticeably better going left-handed, and Windsor fits that profile perfectly.

The headline moment of her career came on 30 October 2024 at Nottingham, where she won a Class 1 race — one of the top races in the country — by 12 lengths. Loughnane has been saying publicly for two seasons that he believes she is capable of winning a Group 1, the very highest tier of the sport, if she gets wet ground underfoot. That is not a small claim. Her regular rider Laura Pearson has been alongside her for much of the journey, winning 6 of their 14 races together, a partnership that clearly works.

She has not raced for around six months now, which will naturally prompt questions about how sharp she is returning from that kind of break. But Loughnane's yard has already sent out 38 winners this season, so the operation is firing. If the rain comes and the ground softens up, Sparks Fly has every reason to pick up exactly where she left off.