Northern Air

The horse has recently joined the yard of D J Jeffreys, based at Hinton on the Green in Worcestershire — a small operation that has sent out four winners already this season, which for a stable of that size represents real momentum. Jeffreys is candid about the fact that Northern Air is new to him and he is still getting to know her. What he does know is that she feels good at home, and crucially, he believes she is ready to take on a new challenge: jumping fences rather than hurdles. That switch, known as going chasing, is one of the biggest transitions in a racehorse's career — some horses are transformed by it, finding a confidence and ability over the bigger obstacles that they never quite showed before.

The plan is to send Northern Air to Carlisle imminently for a race over two miles and four furlongs — a distance that suits a horse with stamina. At her favoured level, Class 4 races, she has won one from five attempts, which works out at 20%, or roughly one in every five. That is actually a decent conversion rate when you strip away the noise — it suggests she is competitive at that level when conditions fall right. Whether fences will unlock something new remains to be seen, but a trainer willing to make that call after only a short time with a horse is clearly encouraged by what he has seen on the gallops. The next few months will tell us whether Northern Air has a second chapter worth following.