Take No Chances

The horse's record at top level tells you she belongs there. From nine Class 1 races, she has won two (22 per cent) and placed in several others. She is most dangerous on normal ground, winning three of nine races (33 per cent) on those conditions — a rare strength that suggests she knows her job and performs best when the surface sits firm and fast. Harry Skelton has ridden her 19 times, winning three of those races at 16 per cent, and the partnership appears effective. Dan Skelton's Warwickshire yard, prolific with 198 winners this season alone, understands her temperament. Her words from a recent stable tour were telling: super-consistent, no less a horse this year, and a mare that will run her race and be "bang there" — trainer-speak for finishing exactly where she belongs.

Yet the recent form is a warning. Take No Chances has not won in her last six races, though she has placed in five of them, finishing second, fourth, third, third, second, and twelfth most recently. She continues to find her level and cash cheques, but that electric winning form feels distant. At eight years old and with a slender budget of five career victories, she is a horse running at her ceiling, eking out consistency without quite recapturing the spark that delivered those Class 1 triumphs. She remains active, useful, and respected — the sort of mare that trainers know will run her race and give you a squeak. Whether that translates back into winners, though, is another question entirely.