Three of those four Newcastle wins came in the space of just four months, between New Year's Day 2025 and mid-April, and all three were Class 2 races — that's near the top of the British racing ladder. Winning one of those is an achievement. Winning three at the same track in one winter is the kind of form that makes people sit up. Storm Star has won 3 from 7 races at that level, a win rate of 43%, which tells you this isn't a horse padding its record against weak opposition — it's competing at a high standard and repeatedly coming out on top.
Ground matters too, and Storm Star has a clear preference for normal conditions — 4 wins from 9 races on a standard surface, compared to nothing from its races on wet or muddy ground. That's not just a quirk; it's a genuine factor that shapes when the horse is at its best. Andrew Balding's yard at Kingsclere has been in exceptional form this season, sending out 199 winners, so Storm Star is coming from a team that knows how to have a horse ready to perform.
The recent form — two tenth-place finishes and a sixth in its last three races — suggests things haven't clicked since that April win, and the horse raced just yesterday, so there's freshness to factor in. But context matters here: Storm Star has twice come back from a quiet spell to win at Newcastle, and the track record speaks for itself. When the conditions line up, this is a horse that has shown, repeatedly, it knows exactly what to do.
| Course | Races | Results | Last visited | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle Galloping |
8 | 4 wins, 2 thirds, 2 other | 3 Apr | 50% |
| Southwell Galloping |
2 | 1 third, 1 other | 7 Feb | 0% |
| Kempton Park Galloping |
1 | 1 other | 5 Jun | 0% |
| Great Yarmouth Galloping |
1 | 1 second | 25 Jul | 0% |
| Sandown Park Galloping |
1 | 1 third | 6 Jul | 0% |
| Doncaster Galloping |
1 | 1 third | 14 Sep | 0% |