Imperial Alex

Trained by Tom Lacey at his yard in Woolhope, Herefordshire, Imperial Alex is part of a setup that has hit real form this season — 37 winners sent out already, which is the kind of number that marks a yard firing on all cylinders. Jockey Stan Sheppard is the regular partner, riding Imperial Alex in 16 of its 23 races and winning three of them — about 1 in every 5 rides together. That's a solid working relationship built over time, and Sheppard clearly knows this horse well.

The highlight of Imperial Alex's career so far came at Uttoxeter in May 2024, winning a Class 2 race — one of the top tier events in British racing. For context, that's a horse performing at the upper end of the sport, against genuinely good competition. Which makes it slightly curious that Imperial Alex has never managed to win at Class 3 level — zero wins from seven attempts at that grade. Racing has a habit of throwing up paradoxes like that. Sometimes a horse finds a level of race that suits perfectly, and everything else around it just doesn't click in quite the same way.

Normal ground conditions seem to suit best — two wins from six races on a standard surface, a win rate of 33%, which is the best return across any ground type. That's a meaningful pattern, not just a coincidence. When conditions are right, this horse delivers.

The most recent win came at Perth in June 2025, and the last six races — finishing fifth, seventh, eleventh, first, second, second — show a horse that has gone through a quieter spell but was competitive enough to win as recently as ten months ago. Raced just three days ago and still active, Imperial Alex is clearly still in training and still being tested. Whether there's another win to come at the top level remains the question — but a horse that has won 5 from 23, placed 13 times, and beaten good horses in a Class 2, has earned the right to keep asking it.