Lake Forest

The headline on his CV is a Class 1 win at York in August 2023 — one of the top races in Britain, at one of the most prestigious venues in the country. That kind of result puts a horse in elite company, and it tells you this is not a horse padding his record against weak fields. Almost all of Lake Forest's racing life — 10 of his 13 races — has been spent at Class 1 level, and he has won 1 of those 10. That might sound modest at first glance, but competing consistently at the very top of the sport and still winning is genuinely difficult. Plenty of horses never get near it.

His recent form makes interesting reading too. The last six runs, most recent first, read 1-2-2-6-5, with one earlier result not recorded. Two wins and two runner-up finishes in that sequence, including a win at Haydock Park just this week — his second career win at that track, which is also where he got his very first win back in June 2023. Haydock clearly suits him, and the fact he returned there and delivered again three years on from his debut win is the kind of detail that sticks.

Tom Marquand rides him most often, partnering Lake Forest in 11 of his 13 races and winning 2 of them — about 1 in every 5 times they go out together. That's a solid combination, and the continuity of the partnership matters: a jockey who knows a horse well is often the one who can coax the best out of it on a big day.

Behind the scenes, Lake Forest is trained by William Haggas at Newmarket, and the yard is in exceptional form — 170 winners already this season. When a horse is trained by one of the busiest and most successful operations in the country, it tends to be placed in races where it belongs. Lake Forest's record suggests Haggas has read him right.