Topwarrior

Those winning moments have come at two very different points in the season. The first arrived at Kempton Park on 21 April 2025, and then Topwarrior came good again at Newbury on 24 October 2025, eight months ago now. Two different tracks, two different times of year — there is no obvious pattern to chase, but the fact that the horse has found a way to win at all is worth noting, because plenty of horses at this level never manage it.

The recent form is harder to look at. The last six runs read 12-14-1-12-2-–, which means two finishes near the back of the field, one win, another near-miss in second, and a run that did not result in a finish. That single win in the sequence keeps the faith alive, but the performances either side of it suggest a horse running in and out of form rather than one building steadily toward something bigger.

Where Topwarrior has consistently struggled is at Class 4 level — the grade it most often competes at — where it has drawn a blank across 5 races, recording 0 wins from those outings. That is a puzzle worth sitting with: it can win, clearly, but not at the level it is most regularly asked to compete. Jockey Rossa Ryan seems to bring something out of the horse, however. The pair have won 2 from 5 races together, a win rate of 40%, which is a strikingly high number and almost certainly not a coincidence.

Trainer Ralph Beckett, based in Kimpton, Hampshire, runs a yard in excellent shape right now — 107 winners this season alone is the output of an operation that knows what it is doing. Topwarrior raced just one day ago and is very much an active campaigner. Whether it can find another winning performance is the open question, but with Ryan in the saddle, the chances look considerably better than the overall record might suggest.