Solanna

The Kempton connection is the most striking thing about her. Five wins from fifteen races there works out at roughly one win in every three, which is a remarkable return for any horse at any track. For context, her overall win rate across all venues is 9 from 50 — around 1 in every 5.5 races — so whatever it is about Kempton that suits her, it is genuinely significant. Her very first win came there in March 2022, and she has been going back and winning ever since. Some horses simply fit a track the way a key fits a lock, and Kempton appears to be Solanna's.

She also has a clear preference for wet ground. Five wins from fifteen races in soft or muddy conditions — again, 1 in 3 — suggests she finds an extra gear when the going gets testing. Trainers and jockeys talk about horses that "want the ground to be testing", and the numbers here back that up entirely.

John Butler, based at Newmarket, has had a productive season with 34 winners from his yard, and Daniel Muscutt has been the jockey who gets the best out of Solanna. Together they have won 5 of their 13 races — that is nearly 2 in every 5 times they have partnered up, a considerably better return than she achieves with other riders. Butler has spoken candidly in the past about a period where he felt he made an error giving her time off, watching her form dip before bouncing back — the kind of honest self-reflection that suggests he knows this horse well and has learned how to manage her.

Most of her races come at Class 5 level, which is towards the lower end of the British racing ladder. Her 9 career wins have been earned honestly rather than dramatically, but longevity and consistency at this level has its own appeal. Solanna is a horse who shows up, competes, and wins roughly one race in every six she enters — and when the conditions are wet and the track is Kempton, those odds shorten considerably.