Sparks Fly

The key to unlocking Sparks Fly is simple: she needs wet ground. On soft or muddy conditions she has won 3 of her last 4 races — a 75% win rate. When it tips over into genuinely heavy, waterlogged ground, she is unbeaten in three attempts, a perfect 100%. Loughnane has been blunt about it for two seasons: he believes she is a Group 1 horse — the very top level of the sport — when the ground suits her, and that a difficult year running on firm, fast ground has masked just how good she is. He admitted he was kicking himself after an uncharacteristically poor run at York, having walked the track beforehand and known it was too quick for her.

Windsor is her favourite venue by some distance — she has won all three races she has run there, a perfect record that reflects how well her style suits a left-handed, flat track. Her biggest win came at Nottingham in October 2024, a Class 1 race — one of the highest-grade races in Britain — which she won at the top level after a journey that began with her very first career victory at Windsor in April 2023. That Class 1 win remains her last, now 19 months ago, and there is clearly unfinished business.

Jockey Laura Pearson has been her regular partner throughout, winning 6 of 14 races together — a win rate of 43%, comfortably above Sparks Fly's already impressive career average. Loughnane has made no secret of his ambitions: a Group 1 victory is the target, and with the right conditions, the evidence suggests he might just be right.