Utmost Good Faith

Stuart Williams trains him from Newmarket, and the yard is having a strong season with sixty-seven winners already. Williams has been candid about Utmost Good Faith's level and potential. The horse has been winning on the all-weather — the synthetic surfaces that many trainers use to get horses racing fit through winter — but those victories have come against modest fields. The trainer sees genuine progress ahead if the horse can handle better company. There is talk of a run at the Royal Mile, one of the season's better races, though Williams is clear this young horse is not quite ready to walk in and dominate. He is still raw, still learning his trade, but the yard believes there is fun to come this season.

What makes Utmost Good Faith worth watching is not what he has already done but what he might do next. A three-year-old with a quarter of his races ending in a win or a place, trained by a yard in form and given time to improve, fits the profile of a horse that could suddenly click into gear. For now, though, he remains very much a work in progress.