Mariner

At five years old, Mariner has now won 3 times from 27 races — that's roughly 1 win in every 9 outings, or an 11% win rate overall. That modest headline number, though, hides something more interesting: over distances between a mile and a mile and two furlongs, he has won 3 of his 11 races. That's 27%, or better than 1 in every 4 — a completely different horse to the one who struggles to land a blow elsewhere. Distance management is everything with a horse like this, and when the team gets it right, he delivers.

Most of his racing has come at Class 5, which sits towards the lower end of the British racing ladder. He has won once from 10 races at that level — 10%, or roughly 1 in 10 — which suggests he is competitive there without being dominant. His last win came at Ripon in May 2025, so there's a gap of around a year without finding the winner's enclosure. His recent form reads 8-2-7-8-9-6, meaning a solitary second place is the best he has managed across his last six races.

George Wood rides him most often, and together they have won once from 7 races — roughly 1 in 7, a 14% win rate. That win came at Wolverhampton in February, so Wood clearly knows how to get the best from him when conditions fall right. Mariner raced just yesterday, which means he is very much in active training and still being aimed at targets. Given Candlish's track record for calling her horses accurately, the smart money — figuratively speaking — is on watching what happens when Mariner lines up next at a mile to a mile and a quarter.