Bluenose Belle

The key to understanding her is distance. Over two miles or more, she has won 2 of just 4 races — that is a 50% record, which is extraordinary by any measure. Most horses at her level are doing well to win 1 in 8. When the race is long enough to suit her and the ground is normal, she becomes a different animal: on that kind of surface she has won 2 from 7 races, winning roughly 1 in every 3 or 4, and that is where Richard Phillips tends to point her. Phillips, who trains out of Adlestrop in Gloucestershire, has sent out 3 winners this season, and Bluenose Belle has been doing her share of the heavy lifting.

Her most trusted partner in the saddle is Finn Lambert, who has ridden her to both of those recent wins. Together they have a record of 2 wins from 7 races — winning roughly 1 in every 3 — which is a remarkable partnership at this level. When Lambert is booked, it is worth paying attention.

Her last win came at Market Rasen in May 2025, and the stable has been candid about what they think of her. Phillips has spoken about how she has always looked decent at home, and how her first win of the season came at a generous price — she went off at 25-1 — but the trainer was not entirely surprised. The jockey reported that she found more when asked, which is exactly what you want to hear from a horse running long distances. A setback interrupted her momentum after that run, which explains a gap in her form, but the two blank results at the top of her recent record do not appear to have dampened anyone's enthusiasm.

She mostly races at the lower end of the class structure, but within that world she is currently one of the more reliable performers around — a horse who knows what she is doing, who takes time to warm up in a season, and who, when everything clicks, is capable of winning races that look competitive on paper.