Valkyrie Storm

That Nottingham connection is worth paying attention to. Valkyrie Storm won there for the first time back on 26 April, then returned and did it again less than two weeks later. Plenty of horses visit a track a dozen times without ever finding their best form there — she's found hers almost immediately. Whether it's the shape of the track, the ground, or something else entirely, Nottingham clearly suits her.

The distance picture tells a similar story. Over a mile and one furlong to a mile and two furlongs, she has won 2 of her 4 races — that's a 50% record, which is exceptional. Racehorses that win half their races at a given distance are rare. What makes that figure more striking is the contrast with her overall record at her usual class of racing, where she has yet to win in 4 attempts. That gap suggests she is a horse still finding her feet against stronger competition, but one who becomes a different animal when conditions fall in her favour.

Her recent form reads 1-1-3-2-5-3, which in plain terms means two wins, two seconds and thirds, and one poor run — a sequence that describes a horse who is consistent without being flashy, and who is clearly on an upward curve right now. Jockey Charles Bishop has ridden her in five of her seven career races, winning once — roughly 1 in every 5 times they've partnered — and the pair have clearly been building an understanding.

Seven races into her career, Valkyrie Storm has won 2 and placed in 5, which means she has finished in the top three in every single outing except one. For a young horse still developing, that kind of reliability is genuinely impressive. She won't be troubling the very top races anytime soon, but she's a horse in form, on a track she loves, trained by a yard firing on all cylinders. Right now, that's a combination worth following.