Starlyte

Starlyte arrived from flat racing and wasted no time making her mark over jumps, winning on her second attempt at Southwell in March 2022. She has been a consistent if not prolific winner since — 5 wins from 52 races means she wins roughly 1 in every 10, which is modest by any measure. But the quality of those wins tells a more interesting story. In March 2025, she landed a top-level Class 2 race at Kelso — one of the better prizes in British jumping — which is a significant step up from her usual Class 4 company, where she has won just 2 of 19 races. Horses occasionally find something extra when the occasion demands it, and Starlyte appears to be one of them.

Newcastle is where she has been at her most reliable, winning 2 of 5 races there. Two wins from five at any single track is a notable record — most horses go their whole careers without that kind of consistency at one venue. Russell believes it comes down to how the track suits her style: she likes to be dropped in off the pace and pick off rivals late, and she needs the race run at a strong clip over around two and a half miles on fast, dry ground. When those pieces fall into place, her attitude does the rest. "It's her attitude that wins her races," Russell has said, and that feels like the key to understanding her.

Her most regular partner is jockey Patrick Wadge, who has ridden her 21 times and won 3 of them — a win rate of roughly 1 in 7, which is meaningfully better than her overall record. She raced just yesterday and has not won in her last six outings, with her Kelso success now 14 months in the past. But a yard that has sent out 49 winners this season clearly has no shortage of confidence, and a horse that rose to win a Class 2 race at nine years old is not one to write off lightly.