Your Darling

The most striking thing about Your Darling is its record at Ascot. Two wins from just 4 races at one of Britain's most prestigious venues — that's half its appearances there ending in victory. Ascot is not a track where average horses thrive, which makes those two Class 2 wins in November 2022 and November 2023 something to sit up and notice. A Class 2 race sits right at the top end of British racing, just below the very biggest occasions, so winning there twice shows this horse genuinely belongs at a high level.

What's just as encouraging is that Your Darling hasn't faded with age. It won at Class 2 level again at Uttoxeter in May 2024, and most recently won at Ludlow just this week — an 11-year-old still finding the winner's enclosure is relatively unusual, and it speaks to a horse being managed thoughtfully by trainer Ben Pauling at his yard in Naunton, Gloucestershire. Pauling has sent out 84 winners this season, so this is a busy, confident operation that knows what it's doing with a horse like this.

Regular jockey Kielan Woods has ridden Your Darling in 6 races and won 2 of them — a win rate of 1 in 3 — suggesting a genuine partnership built on familiarity. The recent form reads well too: a win, then second, then third in the last three completed runs. A horse that competed at Ascot at the top of its game and is still winning races at 11, just days ago, is one worth keeping an eye on.