Pergamon

The backstory is worth knowing. Pergamon is a son of Frankel — one of the most celebrated racehorses in modern history — and arrived at Candlish's yard having previously been trained in France by the legendary Andre Fabre. That is serious pedigree in every sense. The plan when Candlish first got hold of him, as she explained late in 2024, was to give him time, let him settle after being gelded, and then point him toward a career over hurdles. The patience has clearly paid off.

What makes Pergamon genuinely interesting is how reliably he performs when conditions suit. On normal ground — not too wet, not too dry — he has won 4 of his 5 races, an extraordinary 80% success rate. Get him in the right conditions and he is almost impossible to oppose. He also has a very clear sweet spot for distances between a mile and six furlongs and two miles, where he has won 3 of his 5 races, or 60% of the time. Trainers talk about horses that "know their job" — Pergamon is a textbook example.

Candlish herself has had a superb season, sending out 61 winners from her Basford base — a number that marks her out as one of the most productive yards in the country right now. Pergamon is part of that story. His most common level of competition is Class 4, which sits in the middle tier of British racing, and he has won 2 of his 6 races at that level. That might not sound spectacular, but with a Frankel pedigree and a trainer in this kind of form, the expectation is that there is more to come. Two wins in the space of a week suggests Pergamon is peaking at exactly the right moment.