Empress Olivia

Her overall record reads two wins and three places from nine races, a win rate of roughly 1 in every 4 or 5 outings (22%), which at this early stage of a career is genuinely solid. The recent form tells an even better story: read from most recent backwards, her last six runs go 1-1-2-6-4-5. That pair of ones at the top — back-to-back wins — is exactly the kind of momentum that marks a horse coming into its own. Before that purple patch she was knocking on the door with a second place, and the fact she has gone and turned that promise into results is encouraging.

She typically lines up in Class 4 races, which sit in the mid-tier of British racing — competitive enough to mean something, accessible enough for a young horse still learning the job. At that level she has won 1 from 3 (33%), which means she wins roughly 1 in every 3 races she enters in that grade. That is a healthy conversion rate.

One detail worth noting is her partnership with jockey Jack Garritty, who has ridden her in 5 of her 9 races without getting her head in front. The two wins have come via other riders. Whether that changes going forward is one of the more interesting storylines surrounding her. She is trained by Mark Walford at Sheriff Hutton in North Yorkshire — a yard that has sent out 35 winners already this season, so there is clearly plenty of know-how behind her. With a race just yesterday and form pointing sharply upward, Empress Olivia is a horse worth keeping an eye on this summer.