Mountain Road

The seven-year-old is trained by Jim Goldie at his yard in Uplawmoor, Lanarkshire — a stable that has sent out 88 winners this season alone, which tells you this is not a small operation. Goldie clearly knows where his horses are best placed, and Mountain Road's Chelmsford record suggests he has read this one correctly. The horse also has a strong partnership with jockey Callum Shepherd, who has ridden it to 3 wins from 6 attempts together — that is a 50% win rate, which is extraordinarily high and speaks to genuine chemistry between the two.

Mountain Road also has a preference for distance and ground conditions that are worth noting. On normal ground, it has won 3 of just 4 races — a 75% win rate that is frankly remarkable. Give it soft or muddy conditions and that edge seems to disappear. Over long distances of two miles or more, it has won 2 of 5, which at 40% is well above its overall average. This is a horse that wants good conditions and room to stretch its legs.

The last win came at Chelmsford in July 2024 — 23 months ago now — and recent form shows a fifth and a third from the last two runs after back-to-back wins before that. The horse raced just yesterday, so it is firmly in the mix at the moment. The class level it competes at most often is Class 4, where it wins roughly 1 in every 3 races, but it has already shown it can step up: that November 2022 Chelmsford win came in a Class 2 race, one of the top tier events in Britain. Mountain Road has already proved, at least once, that it belongs in better company.