Saucy Jane

The wider picture is that Saucy Jane has won just once from 11 races — roughly 1 in every 11 — but that single number undersells what she's been doing. She's placed three times on top of that win, she's only three years old, and she's clearly been aimed at races that test her. Most tellingly, she ran in a Listed race at York — one of those high-profile contests just below the top tier — against a horse called Secret Hideaway, and her trainer believes she'd have finished closer with a bit of shelter from the pace. That's not spin; Morland is pointing to Royal Ascot runners as proof that the form from that day is genuine quality.

Her most recent run came in a Listed race in France, which didn't go to plan before the race even started — she got herself worked up in the preliminaries and was already running on empty before the gates opened. A holiday followed, and she was back in light work on Monday. At Class 4 level — the mid-tier of British racing — she's won 1 from 4 races, a 25% win rate, which suggests she handles that level comfortably when conditions suit.

What makes Saucy Jane genuinely interesting is the trajectory. Morland used words like "a filly on the up" and "a nice prospect" after Beverley, and the fact that he was openly talking about Royal Ascot in the same breath says something about how highly she's thought of at home. Her recent run of six races without a win includes a trip to France and a crack at Listed company, which is a very different conversation from a horse that's simply struggling. At three, with Newmarket polish behind her and a trainer who clearly believes in her, the next few months will tell the real story.