Apollo One

What makes those two wins genuinely striking, though, is where they came. The first arrived at Kempton in November 2022, a Class 2 race on the all-weather track — a respectable level to break your duck at. The second is the one that raises an eyebrow: a Class 1 at Ascot in October 2024. That is as high as British racing gets, and it is genuinely unusual for a horse with this kind of win rate to come up trumps at that level. Most horses that win at the top of the sport have a lengthy record of wins beneath it; Apollo One arrived there having won once in its life and somehow got the job done at the biggest stage.

Since that Ascot win, though — now 20 months ago — the results have dried up. The last six races read 4th, 14th, 8th, 9th, 3rd, 9th, which paints a picture of inconsistency rather than quiet decline. That third place shows the ability is still there on the right day, but the wins are not coming. Richard Kingscote, who has ridden Apollo One 11 times, has found the winner's post once between them — roughly 1 in every 11 rides together, a respectable relationship but not a prolific one.

Trained at Newmarket by the yard of P Charalambous and J Clutterbuck, who have sent out two winners this season, Apollo One raced just yesterday and remains very much in active training. At eight years old and with a Class 1 win already on the CV, the pressure is low and the ceiling has arguably already been reached — but that Ascot result means nobody in the yard will be ruling out another surprise.