Goodoldbill

He is trained by Jane Walton at a small yard in Otterburn, Northumberland, and her team has sent out four winners this season — Goodoldbill accounting for three of them. That tells you something important: this horse is not just on a lucky run, he is carrying a significant chunk of his trainer's entire season on his back. Ross Chapman has been his most regular partner in the saddle, though their record together reads just 1 win from 7 races — it is worth noting that the current streak has come without Chapman aboard, which adds an interesting wrinkle to the story.

Newcastle has been his happy hunting ground, with 2 wins from 6 races there — the same ratio he posts on wet or muddy ground, where he has won twice from six attempts. Both of those stats point to the same conclusion: give this horse a northern track and a bit of rain, and he becomes a different proposition. He won for the first time at Newcastle back in November 2023, and that course has clearly suited him ever since.

He mostly races at Class 5, the bread-and-butter level of the sport, and his record there is 2 wins from 14 races — about 1 in every 7, which sounds modest until you factor in that he is currently burning through the competition. A ten-year-old on a three-race winning streak, trained at a small Northumberland yard, winning this week — Goodoldbill is exactly the kind of horse a casual fan should know about right now.