The Notebook - 14th May 2026

Not every big performance results in a headline victory. Sometimes it is the subtle runs, the late headway, the eye-catching move through the field, or the effort despite unfavourable conditions, that signal a horse ready to strike next time. Here are four runners who caught the eye this week and may be worth adding to your tracker for future races...

Defying Gravity

If Defying Gravity had jumped the last better (yes, I am still in jumps mode) at Perth, then he would have been a ready winner in a Class 5 handicap chase. You can mark the performance up massively, simply due to the horse overcoming a pace bias through the race. Many horses who won on the card were front-runners, indicating it paid to be handy on the front end. However, Defying Gravity came through the field and likely just got to the front too soon, losing concentration and making an appalling mistake at the final flight. To his credit, he picked back up and was desperately unlucky to go down by a nose to The Flying Poet from the Olly Murphy team. Any replication of this performance will see Andrew Hamilton’s six-year-old win plenty of races, and there can be optimism that he has scope to progress off a low mark.

Shadowfax Of Rohan

Jumping frailties continue to hold back Shadowfax Of Rohan, but I am convinced he is very well handicapped off a mark of 89. Long-time readers of this column may recognise this name, as he has featured in this segment on numerous occasions. Simply, this shows how much faith I have in this horse, albeit he hasn’t progressed as well as I thought he might. He won around Catterick on his first start for trainer Patrick Neville, before bumping into a well-handicapped rival in Marty McFly next time out. The latter would go on to win a month later and frank the form. He won a weak contest at Southwell and got a rather harsh 8lb rise, and then the less said about his return to hurdles on his penultimate start, the better. At a moderate level, if you could promise me that he wouldn’t make any jumping errors, I would continue to back him blind. He is very well-treated.

Bay City Roller

It was some effort by Bay City Roller to get within a neck of Lambourn in the Group 2 Huxley Stakes at Chester last week. For two reasons: Firstly, the fact that he had to give five lbs to the 2025 Derby winner, and secondly, the O’Brien and Moore combination were in red-hot form all week, winning all pattern races across the week. You could even enhance it further because it was his first run for 181 days, and he will surely improve for the run. He has been a fabulous horse for connections, winning a Group 1 in Germany as well as multiple Group 2’s back in the UK.

Maxi King

Finally, young jockey Toby Moore must have thought his chances of winning the Chester Cup were over as Maxi King fiercely pulled his way through the first mile of the Friday feature race. So much so, I immediately ruled the horse out after a few furlongs and was stunned to see he was full of running as they turned into the short run-in. He has been raised three lbs for this second, so it has not been glossed over by the handicapper, but if he settles better, then he should be capable of running to it. He may be able to pick up the pieces in Group contests, and it could be an avenue that owners Amo Racing look to explore.