Pole Star

The overall numbers are solid without being flashy: 3 wins and 5 places from 11 races, meaning it has found the podium in just under three-quarters of its starts. That 27% win rate — roughly 1 in every 4 races — is a healthy return for a horse operating mostly at Class 2 level, which is one step below the very top tier of British racing. At that level specifically, Pole Star has won just 1 from 7 (14%), which puts the Haydock wins in sharper relief. Beating good horses twice at the same track isn't a fluke — it's a pattern.

Those Haydock wins came in quick succession, on 30 May and 5 July 2025, the second of them a Class 2 race. Jock Bennett, the trainer's assistant, was candid afterwards: he thought Pole Star was beaten on the turn before the horse dug in and fought back. That detail matters — horses who win ugly, when it looks like it's over, tend to be more reliable in a tight finish than ones who only score when everything goes perfectly. A "big raw horse" who wakes up in a battle, as Bennett put it, is exactly the kind of animal that can surprise you on a big day.

Charlie Johnston — whose yard has sent out an impressive 128 winners this season — has hinted that something larger might be coming. After a comeback run that looked a touch rusty, Johnston flagged both the Chester Cup and a one-mile-six-furlong race at Newmarket's Guineas meeting as possible targets, though he leaned toward Newmarket after jockey William Buick suggested dropping back in trip. "It wouldn't surprise me to see him land a big one this season," Johnston said — and from a trainer running at that kind of volume, that's not idle talk.

Recent form (most recent first: 3-4-13-5-6-1) tells the story of a horse that went through a rough patch before rediscovering its best. The question now is whether it can translate that Haydock brilliance onto a bigger stage.