Spicy Marg

The trajectory here is what stands out. Her first win came at Newmarket in early May 2025, and within six months she had climbed all the way to a Class 1 victory at the same track — one of the highest-grade races in Britain. That is a rapid rise, and it did not happen by accident. Trainer Michael Bell, whose Newmarket yard has sent out 47 winners this season alone, has spoken about her in glowing terms, describing her as one of the top-rated young horses in Britain and naming her as his personal pick. That is a meaningful endorsement from a man who has plenty of horses to choose from.

Her relationship with Newmarket is worth noting on its own. She has raced there four times and won twice — a 50% win rate at one track is the kind of stat that makes a course feel like a home ground rather than just another venue. Normal ground conditions suit her best, where she has won 2 of 3 races, and Bell has been honest about preferring to avoid very wet or muddy conditions until she has been tested in them. The Goodwood win in July came after a sequence of frustrations — she came into season on the morning of a big race at Royal Ascot and had to be withdrawn, then ran too freely at Newmarket and faded late. When everything finally lined up at Goodwood, her jockey Kieran Shoemark said it was the horse he had always hoped she would be.

Shoemark has ridden her in five of her seven races and won two of them — a 40% win rate together that suggests a real partnership has developed. She comes back now after five months off, with Bell hinting at a spring campaign that could include the Nell Gwyn, a key trial at Newmarket for the top mile races. For a horse who clearly loves that track, returning there would feel very much like coming home.