Princess Niyla

Her first win came at Chester in July 2023, and she added her most recent at Beverley in May 2025 — a track in East Yorkshire that suits a straightforward, honest type. Alan Brown trains her out of Yedingham in North Yorkshire, a yard that has already sent out 10 winners this season, so this is not a sleepy operation. Rowan Scott is her most regular partner in the saddle, the pair having teamed up 11 times and won together once — a useful combination even if the wins have not exactly come in clusters.

What the numbers do tell you is where Princess Niyla is at her best. On normal ground — not too wet, not too fast — she has won 2 of her 10 races at that condition, a 20% win rate that is meaningfully better than her overall record. Over seven furlongs to a mile, she again wins 1 in every 5 races. These are not coincidences; they are the conditions that bring out the best in her, and when both align on the right day, she becomes a genuine threat. She typically races at Class 5, the bread-and-butter level of British racing, and has won 2 of her 20 races there — around 1 in 10.

She raced just yesterday, which speaks to her durability and the busy schedule Brown keeps her on. Her last six runs read 3-5-6-3-9-5 — consistently in the mix without quite getting her nose in front. The last win was twelve months ago at Beverley, so there is a gap to close. But with the right ground underfoot and the right distance on offer, Princess Niyla has shown enough times that she knows exactly what to do.