Take No Chances

The Ascot win in particular told you something real about her character. Jockey Kielan Woods admitted afterwards that he thought he was in serious trouble when a rival loomed alongside at the home turn, but he kept pressing because the trainer and Harry Skelton had told him she would stay strong all the way to the line. She did exactly that. Woods said Dan and Harry Skelton told him to keep after her — and she delivered. That kind of toughness, the ability to keep finding more when another horse is breathing down your neck, is not something you can train into an animal. It is just who they are.

Dan Skelton's yard, based in Alcester, has sent out 194 winners this season alone — one of the most productive operations in the country — and Take No Chances fits the profile of a horse they manage carefully and deliberately. After the Wetherby win, Skelton talked about dropping her back in trip and getting her confident, drawing a comparison with another mare from the stable who responded brilliantly to the same approach. His comment that "when mares get confidence they do even more for you" felt like a trainer who really understands what this horse needs to thrive.

She loves normal ground, winning 3 of 9 races — a third of them — on standard conditions. Her record at the top level stands at 2 wins from 9 races, or roughly 1 in every 4, which is a genuinely impressive ratio at that grade. She has not won in her last 6 races, and her last victory was 15 months ago at Ascot, so there is a question to answer. But Skelton has said he has run her less this season specifically to bring her to her best race as fresh as possible, and his exact words were that he would give her "an each-way squeak at least." From a trainer who knows her as well as anyone, that is worth listening to.