Spicy Marg

Newmarket is clearly her place. She has won two of her five races there, and both of her Class 1 and Class 2 victories have come on that famous Suffolk straight. Michael Bell, her trainer and one of Newmarket's most established names, has been open about how highly he rates her — describing her as one of the top-rated horses of her crop and his personal pick from the whole yard. That is a significant statement from a trainer who has sent out 45 winners this season alone. The road to that October Class 1 win was not entirely smooth: Bell revealed she came into season on the morning of a major summer race and had to be withdrawn, and a previous run at Newmarket saw her burst out of the gates too fast and burn herself out. The fact she regrouped and won at the top level anyway tells you something about her quality.

On normal ground she is particularly dangerous — two wins from three races on standard conditions, a 67% win rate that jumps off the page. Jockey Kieran Shoemark knows her well, having ridden her in five of her nine races and won two of them, giving the pair a 40% win rate together, which is exceptional. After her Newmarket win in October, Bell mused publicly about the Nell Gwyn Stakes in spring as a next target — a race that traditionally leads toward the Guineas, British racing's most celebrated mile race for three-year-olds. That kind of ambition from a trainer who chooses his words carefully is worth paying attention to.