Miss Natalia Lupini

Over the last twelve months, she has sent out 17 winners from 154 runners, which works out at roughly 1 in every 9 races. An 11% win rate might not leap off the page, but in a sport where most horses in most races don't win, getting one home that often across a full season's worth of runners is a genuine mark of consistency. It means her horses are showing up ready to compete, not just making up the numbers.

Her most telling statistic is what happens when the ground is normal underfoot. On a standard surface, Lupini's runners win 9 times from every 51 races — that's 18%, or nearly 1 in every 5. Compare that to her overall rate of 1 in 9 and the difference is striking. It suggests she knows exactly how to prepare a horse for those conditions, and that when the track comes up right, her yard can be a very dangerous place to oppose.

The most established working relationship in her string is with jockey Wayne Lordan, who has partnered her horses 62 times and ridden 5 of those winners. That's roughly 1 win in every 12 rides together — a modest conversion rate, but 62 rides in four years is a meaningful partnership, the kind that builds trust and understanding between a rider and a trainer. Lordan knows how her horses are likely to travel; Lupini knows what he needs from her end.

Sixty-five career winners in four years, a stable partnership with a jockey, and a clear edge when conditions suit — Lupini has put together the foundations of a proper training operation in a very short time. The next step will be seeing whether those winners start appearing at a higher level, but the early evidence suggests the tools are already there.