Lady Mariko

Her most recent victory came at Kempton Park just three weeks ago, on 6 April 2026, and with a race just yesterday she is clearly a horse in the thick of things right now. That Kempton win is the latest chapter in a story that started at Wetherby back in June 2025, where she broke her duck for the first time. Going from that first win to picking up another at a track like Kempton — which draws competitive fields — suggests she has developed as the season has gone on.

Most of Lady Mariko's racing has come at Class 5 level, which is the bread-and-butter tier of British racing — competitive, but not the glamour end of the sport. At that level she has won 2 from 12, roughly 1 in every 6 races, and a 17% win rate in any sport is nothing to be embarrassed about. More telling is how often she finishes close: three of her last six runs have been a win or a runner-up finish, and only one of those six resulted in finishing out of the top three.

The trainer behind all this, Dylan Cunha, has had a productive season by any measure — 45 winners sent out from his Newmarket base is a serious tally and puts him firmly among the active yards to follow. A trainer running at that volume and that success rate tends to know exactly where to place a horse to give it the best chance, and Lady Mariko's recent record suggests she has been placed well. With yesterday's race still fresh and form that shows she is running into a purple patch rather than out of one, she is a horse worth keeping an eye on over the weeks ahead.