My Girl Katie

What makes her stand out is her command of Newton Abbot. She has won 4 of her 6 races there, a win rate of 80 percent. That is not luck; that is a horse that understands the track and rises to it. Over her career, she has won 5 races from 30 attempts, a win rate of roughly 1 in every 6 races, but those recent numbers tell a different story. She has won 4 of her last 6, and now carries a three-race winning run that suggests she is in a rich vein of form.

Ground conditions matter to her too. She loves fast, dry ground: she has won 4 of her 5 races on those surfaces, an 80 percent win rate that is impossible to ignore. Muddy or wet ground does not suit her as well, so timing her races around the weather becomes part of the puzzle. Grace Harris, her trainer at Shirenewton in Gwent, has found the formula. Most of My Girl Katie's races are at Class 5 level — smaller, less competitive races — where she has won 2 of 17, but her recent streak shows she is capable of much more when the pieces fall into place. With Conor Ring as her regular rider, the pair have found a winning rhythm, and at nine years old she is proof that a horse does not need to peak young to have a purple patch. Right now, My Girl Katie is doing exactly what she does best: winning at the places and on the ground that suit her.