Aramram

Richard Hannon, who trains Aramram at his yard in Wiltshire, is one of Britain's most prolific handlers — 118 winners already this season tells you everything about the operation — and he is not being modest about where this horse is headed. After the Doncaster win, Hannon admitted his jockey Sean Levey effectively talked him out of a quieter route through the handicap ranks, and he is glad he listened. The trainer believes Aramram has improved clearly from last year and is pointing him straight at the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, one of the most hotly-contested sprint races in the world. That is a bold call, but Hannon's exact words were that he thinks this horse will win a Group 1 — the very highest level of competition.

What makes Aramram so compelling is the combination of versatility and specialist brilliance. He wins roughly 1 in every 4 races overall (24% across 25 starts), which is a genuinely impressive figure for a horse competing consistently at Class 2 level — some of the toughest races in Britain. But on wet or muddy ground he becomes a different proposition entirely: two wins from three races in those conditions, a success rate of 67%, or roughly 2 in every 3. And at Doncaster specifically, he has won twice from three visits. Some horses find tracks that suit them; Aramram has found one that seems almost designed for him.

Jockey Tom Marquand, who rode him to his Ascot win last October, captured something important about the horse after the race — noting that Aramram picked up quicker than expected and then, once challenged, dug in and fought. "Brave" and "genuine" are words that matter in racing. They mean the horse does not fold when it gets hard. With Royal Ascot on the horizon, that might be the most important fact of all.