Sweet William

The Doncaster record is the thing that makes you stop and look twice. Three wins from just 4 races at that track — winning 3 out of every 4 times it goes there — is the kind of number that makes trainers circle the fixture list with a red pen. Two of those wins came in back-to-back Class 1 races in September 2024 and September 2025, essentially the same prestigious late-summer date, one year apart. Some horses just click with a particular track — the turns, the camber, the way the ground rides — and Sweet William clearly has Doncaster figured out.

The training operation behind it is one of the strongest in the country. John and Thady Gosden, based at Newmarket, have sent out 140 winners already this season, and their yard has a habit of placing horses in exactly the right races at exactly the right moments. Robert Havlin does most of the steering: he and Sweet William have been together for 21 races, winning 6 of them — roughly 1 in every 3.5 rides together — which is a real working partnership built over time.

What is also worth noting is the quality of the opposition Sweet William routinely faces. Of its 22 races, 14 have been at Class 1 level — the very top tier — and it has won 3 of those, a 21% rate, which works out to better than 1 in 5. Most horses never get close to a Class 1 race. Winning three of them, including a Sandown Park victory in May 2024, marks this out as a horse operating at a serious level.

Recent form is strong: two wins and two runner-up finishes from the last six races, and it raced just yesterday, so it is in the middle of an active campaign. This week's win at Ascot on 1 May 2026 is the latest chapter. Sweet William is not slowing down — if anything, it looks like a horse at the peak of its powers.