Valkyrie Storm

The recent form tells an interesting story. Reading those last six results from most recent backwards — 6, 5, 1, 1, 3, 2 — you can see a horse that was knocking around in the mid-pack, then hit a purple patch with back-to-back wins, and has since dropped away again. Those two victories, both at Nottingham, came on 26 April and 9 May 2026, just under two weeks apart. Finding a track you like and going back to raid it again is a smart piece of horsemanship from the team, and Nottingham clearly suits.

Eve Johnson Houghton trains Valkyrie Storm from her yard in Blewbury, Oxfordshire, and she has been in fine form this season — 42 winners already. That kind of output means horses in her care tend to be well-prepared and placed thoughtfully, which matters for a young horse still finding its feet. Regular jockey Charles Bishop has ridden Valkyrie Storm in five of those nine races, winning once together — a 20% win rate, or 1 in every 5 rides. That is a decent working partnership at this stage of a three-year-old's development.

The conditions picture is striking. On normal ground, Valkyrie Storm has won 2 of just 3 races — that is two wins from three attempts, a 67% record that stands head and shoulders above everything else in the profile. Keep it off soft or wet ground and this horse is a different proposition entirely. The preferred distance of a mile and a fraction to a mile and a half also fits the profile of a horse that wants time to find its stride and travel into a race.

The one puzzle is the class record: zero wins from four races at Class 5, which is the bread-and-butter level of everyday racing. Both wins actually came at higher levels, which is unusual and slightly counterintuitive — it suggests Valkyrie Storm may race more keenly, or simply better, when the standard rises. Having raced just yesterday, there is clearly plenty more to come from this horse.