Kate O'Riley

Trained by James Owen at his Newmarket yard — a stable that has fired out 204 winners this season alone, which is a remarkable throughput — Kate O'Riley has won 3 races from 15, a win rate of roughly 1 in every 5. That's a solid return at her level, where she typically competes in Class 4 races: the bread-and-butter middle tier of the sport, below the headline events but far from easy. At that level she has won 2 from 7, nearly 1 in 3, which suggests she's genuinely competitive when the race fits her. Her first win came at Wolverhampton in November 2024, and her most recent at Ludlow in October 2025 — and it was after that Ludlow win that Owen revealed he had his eye on a Grade 2 race at Cheltenham's November meeting, a race his yard has won twice before. That is a significant step up in class, from everyday races to one of the top events in the calendar.

What makes her interesting is where she does her best work. On normal ground and over longer distances — between a mile and six furlongs and two miles — she wins 2 from 6, or 1 in every 3 races. That's a meaningful pattern. She's not a horse who wants a flat-out sprint on quick ground; she wants to stretch out, settle, and stay. Her jockey Jack Doughty put it plainly after her Wolverhampton win, noting that she dug deep when it mattered and that stepping up in distance would bring significant improvement.

Her recent run of form tells a mixed story: no win in her last six races, with two third-place finishes and a second sandwiched around some disappointing efforts. She raced just yesterday, so she is clearly being kept busy. Whether the team is searching for the right opportunity or building towards something bigger isn't clear, but a yard of 204 winners doesn't run a horse with Grade 2 potential without a plan. The best of Kate O'Riley may still be ahead of her.