Bellarchi

What makes her story particularly enjoyable is what happens when she turns up at Musselburgh, the tight, flat track on the Firth of Forth outside Edinburgh. She has won 4 of her 5 races there, including her most recent outing just four weeks ago. That kind of record at a single venue isn't luck — it's a horse who has found her ideal stage. Tuer was candid about it after that win: Bellarchi loves the course, loves a slight cut in the wet ground, and the whole setup suits her perfectly. She has won 3 of 7 races on slightly soft ground (43%) and 5 of 13 on normal conditions (38%), which backs up the trainer's claim that she'll handle almost anything underfoot.

She announced herself as a proper horse when she won a top-tier race at Ascot in May 2024, one of the better tracks in Britain. That confirmed she belonged at a high level, even if her bread and butter comes at Class 3. At that level she wins about 2 in every 13 races — which sounds modest until you consider she's been consistently competitive against strong fields. Her regular jockey Oliver Stammers has ridden her 18 times and won on 5 of them, roughly 1 in every 3.6 rides. His description of her says everything: "The more you get after her, the more she keeps finding." She is the kind of horse who responds to pressure rather than wilting under it.

Tuer reckons she's better over seven furlongs than a mile, and at five years old she is right in the prime of her career. With two wins from her last six races and a trainer whose yard has already sent out 26 winners this season, there's every reason to think Bellarchi isn't finished collecting yet.