Alice Haynes

The current season tells a slightly more complicated story. With 21 winners from 361 runners, she's winning roughly 1 in every 17 races — around 6% — which is a noticeable step back from last year's 9%. That kind of dip happens in training; strings go through quieter patches, and the horses don't always cooperate with the calendar. Whether this represents a temporary blip or something to watch more closely will become clearer as the season develops.

Her most reliable ally in the saddle has been jockey Kieran O'Neill, who has partnered her horses to 9 wins from 176 rides together. That's roughly 1 in every 19 — modest on paper, but a partnership built on repetition and trust tends to be worth more than the numbers alone suggest. O'Neill clearly knows how her horses are prepared and what they need on race day.

One area where Haynes genuinely stands out is on wet, muddy ground. She wins 4 in every 31 races in those conditions — around 13%, more than double her overall rate. In a sport where getting the conditions right for a horse is half the battle, that kind of edge is real and exploitable. When the ground is soft and the rain is coming down, her horses are worth following.

The centrepiece of her career so far remains a top-level win at Pontefract in October 2021, just months after she started training. Class 1 races are the absolute pinnacle of the British racing calendar, and landing one that early was a statement. It's still her only victory at that level, which makes it both the highlight and a benchmark — a reminder of what this yard is capable of when everything clicks.