Before the start of the 'Flat season' proper, John Ingles looks at the best winning performances of the year so far by British-trained horses.
While for many the ‘Flat season’ gets underway with the first meeting on turf at Doncaster next Saturday, in reality many British-trained Flat horses have already been busy since January 1st, either at home on the all-weather tracks or chasing big prizes in the Middle East. This article will therefore list the ten best winning performances, in ascending order, by British-trained horses on the Flat so far this year judged on their Timeform performance ratings in the race in question, rather than their current master rating if that is different.
Clive Cox’s sprinter Diligent Harry has actually run to his figure of 115 twice in winning both his listed races at Lingfield this year. He won the Kachy Stakes over six furlongs, dead-heating with Completely Random (see below), and then swooped late to follow up in the five-furlong Hever Stakes, completing the same double as he had done in 2024 when the latter race was run at Southwell. He’s as good as ever at the age of eight, though it’s remarkable that all ten of his career wins have come on the all-weather even though his best turf form is on a par with those efforts.
Al Nayyir (115) is another eight-year-old who retains plenty of ability. He won his second race since joining Tom Clover, and his first at pattern level, when landing the Group 3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy at Meydan in February over a mile and three quarters. Already a winner three times at the track in his youth when trained in the UAE by Doug Watson, Al Nayyir showed a good attitude to reel in Sunway, who got first jump on him, and win by a neck. Al Nayyir might find life tougher back in the top staying contests at home, though he has been placed in the last two editions of the Lonsdale Cup at York.
While Completely Random (117) dead-heated at level weights with Diligent Harry in the Kachy Stakes, he was rated as the outright winner as he got hampered at the start and did well to make up ground from the rear to share the spoils, though coming from the back is his usual run style. Completely Random was building upon another smart performance over the same course and distance in a handicap a fortnight earlier, and his trainer Harry Charlton is entitled to be thinking about minor pattern company for him back on the turf for the rest of the year.
Fort George (117) was a progressive three-year-old handicapper for Ed Walker last season, finishing third in the Cambridgeshire on his final start, and his improvement has carried over into better races in Dubai this year. After a good second in another handicap, he stepped up successfully to Group 3 company to win the Dubai Millennium Stakes gamely by a nose, albeit helped by the runner-up’s failure to keep straight. He had no problem with the longer trip, either, when chasing home Rebel’s Romance (see below) in the Dubai City of Gold over a mile and a half last time and has an interesting profile for similar events in Europe.
Simon & Ed Crisford’s Quddwah (117) has found life tough in top mile company in Europe, though he was only beaten a short head in the Prix Daniel Wildenstein at the Arc meeting having won at listed and Group 3 level in France earlier last year. However, his dam Sajjhaa did very well on the turf at Meydan, where her wins included the Dubai Duty Free, and Quddwah could be headed for that same race himself, having won two of his three starts there this year, the Zabeel Mile and the Singspiel Stakes which are both Group 2 contests.
Back in Britain on the all-weather, the best winning performance this year has come from Chancellor (118). Trained by John & Thady Gosden, he missed a chunk of last season but has form figures of 1212 since returning on the all-weather late last year. His best effort came when landing the odds in the listed Tandridge Stakes at Southwell in February where he would have won more convincingly had he kept straight (replay below). He was all the rage in the betting again for the Winter Derby over another two furlongs at Lingfield when going down by a neck to the mare Sky Safari in a race of fine margins but remains a quite lightly-raced four-year-old.
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Godolphin’s globe-trotter Rebel’s Romance (118) needs little introduction, and the eight-year-old was winning his 21st race when accounting for Fort George in the Dubai City of Gold on his reappearance, landing the odds without having to run up to his current master rating of 122. That was his first run since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and it should have put him spot on for another crack at the Dubai Sheema Classic which he won two years ago, though he was beaten by three younger rivals in that contest last year.
Representing the same connections as Quddwah, Meydaan (120) is another to have thrived for the Crisfords in Dubai this year. He drew a blank over a variety of trips last season, starting off in a listed race at Ascot over a mile and ending the year in the Melbourne Cup, but has shown his versatility in recent months, firstly winning a minor event on turf over a mile and three quarters, but on his latest start he proved a revelation on dirt back at ten furlongs in the Group 2 Al Maktoum Classic which he won by just over five lengths after barging his way out of trouble. The Dubai World Cup would demand plenty more, though.
Royal Champion (122) is yet another eight-year-old on this list but is in the form of his life for Karl Burke whom he joined late in 2024 after a brief spell in Australia. He won last year’s Winter Derby, and after also winning the York Stakes back on turf last summer and finishing third to Delacroix in the Irish Champion Stakes, he ended last year winning the Bahrain International Trophy. But he landed a still bigger prize last time, and a first Group 1, in the Neom Turf Cup on the Saudi Cup undercard, showing a smashing turn of foot to beat French rival Facteur Cheval by just under five lengths. He has options in Dubai or Hong Kong.
If there’s a horse in this list capable of winning a Group 1 in Europe somewhere this year, then it’s surely Opera Ballo (122) whose career record for Charlie Appleby now stands at six wins from eight starts. He made a big impression starting out on the all-weather at Kempton early last year and progressed to listed wins at Sandown and Newmarket later on, while there’s more to come judging from two convincing wins at Meydan this winter in the Al Rashidiya in December and the Jebel Hatta in January. He might not have had a great deal to beat in the latter contest but looks well up to holding his own in the Dubai Duty Free.
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