Who Wants Me

Both of those career wins have come in the last six races, and they've arrived in quick succession — first at Carlisle on 24 June, then at Ayr just this week on 5 July. That's two wins in a fortnight for a horse that had never won before in its life. Whatever clicked, it clicked fast.

What makes that even more interesting is that the horse's regular partner, jockey Andrew Mullen, has ridden Who Wants Me in 10 of those 17 races and is yet to taste victory together. Both wins came without him aboard. That's not a criticism of Mullen — these things happen — but it's a curious footnote to what has otherwise been a quietly building story.

Iain Jardine is having a productive season, with 57 winners sent out from the yard already, so this is a training operation that knows what it's doing. Jardine himself said back in September that this horse ran a good third at Thirsk, showed a little too much early enthusiasm, but handled a mile well enough and probably appreciates some dig in the wet ground. His words at the time were that she'd be winning "before too long" — and he wasn't wrong, just patient.

The one puzzle worth flagging: Who Wants Me has raced nine times at Class 4 level — which is mid-table in the racing world — and hasn't won once at that grade. Both wins came elsewhere. Whether that's coincidence or something more meaningful is hard to say, but it's the kind of quirk that keeps things interesting. With the horse raced just yesterday and clearly in the form of its life right now, the next few weeks could be very telling indeed.