Borna Gem

That one win came at Ludlow on 19 March 2026, and it matters more than the bare numbers suggest. Borna Gem had gone winless across five races at Class 4 — essentially the bread-and-butter level of British racing — before finally breaking through. Winning at any level takes something: the right conditions, the right day, the right ride. Ludlow provided all of that, and Borna Gem delivered. The fact it came at Class 4, after five failed attempts at the same level, tells you this isn't a horse operating with bags of margin for error. But winners are winners.

The recent form makes for interesting reading. The sequence of 9-1-–-–-– (reading back from that Ludlow win) shows a horse that was nowhere for several races before suddenly hitting the front. That kind of improvement can happen for all sorts of reasons — a change in tactics, better ground, a longer rest — and pinpointing which is part of what makes racing endlessly absorbing. What we know is that Borna Gem raced again just yesterday, keeping active just five weeks on from that career-best result.

The training operation behind the horse is a genuine strength. Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies run one of the more prolific yards in jump racing, based at Naunton in Gloucestershire, and have already sent out 61 winners this season alone. That kind of output doesn't happen by accident — it reflects a yard that knows how to place horses in races they can win, and how to keep them in form. For a horse like Borna Gem, being in that environment is an advantage that doesn't show up in the record but almost certainly shapes it.