The Third Star

That one win came at Southwell in April 2025, over a distance between seven furlongs and a mile — the range where it has always looked most comfortable. Across its seven races at that trip, it has won once in seven attempts (14%), which is actually a more respectable ratio than its overall record suggests. The problem is that win now sits fifteen months in the past, and the six races since have produced a sequence of 6-9-7-5-2-2. Read that right to left and you can see something building: back-to-back runner-up finishes are the most encouraging spell of form this horse has put together, and it raced just yesterday, which means it is right in the thick of a campaign at the moment.

The step up in class, though, is where things get complicated. When The Third Star has been asked to compete at the top level — the very best races in Britain — it has come up short every time, with three attempts and nothing to show for them. That's not a disgrace; those races are ruthless, and most horses never win one. But it does raise a question about where exactly this horse belongs, and whether the yard at Lambourn has found the right conditions yet.

Owen Burrows is a trainer worth knowing. Based in Lambourn — one of the great centres of British racing, with gallops on the Berkshire Downs that top trainers have used for generations — his yard has sent out 32 winners already this season. That's a team operating with real confidence and momentum. Whether The Third Star can add to that tally probably depends on getting the trip right and finding a race that suits, rather than tilting at the top level again. The signs of late are quietly encouraging. Two seconds in a row, still racing, still trying — there's a horse here that hasn't given up.