The Notebook - 8th August 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...

River Wharfe

After scraping home on Wednesday by a short head and beaten on Thursday, River Wharfe should have a fairly lenient assessment from the handicapper when his rating is revised. He didn’t look the most genuine animal on Wednesday, but ultimately, he got the job done and, as such, was very well fancied when lining up again the next day. He won over a mile and dropped back to 7 furlongs when finishing third, so that could explain why he came up short. Both races were classified stakes at Brighton, where trainer Tony Carroll often has plenty of success. This horse is 12-82, which isn’t a bad strike-rate for a 50 rated animal and returning to a mile should suit next time out. He may need to be ridden patiently as he doesn’t do a great deal when he hits the front, but he is capable off this mark and knows how to win.

Percy Shelley

Over at Newmarket, Percy Shelley was beaten by a well-fancied stable mate, High Fibre, who looked to have a stone in hand off his flat mark of 79. Well, he certainly did before winning on Thursday. Nevertheless, James Owen’s stablemate made him work for it and also looks like he can be competitive off a mark of 82. He often switches between disciplines and is a useful hurdler, with a rating of 121 and two wins from seven starts over obstacles. His record of three wins from 31 starts on the flat slightly does him a disservice as he has also finished runner-up a further nine times. Frustrating. However, this latest Class 4 handicap, dominated by the Owen stable, was a good race for the grade and there could be a nice prize waiting for Percy Shelley who is certainly well-handicapped.

Rovinia

Rovinia is the horse that finished second to River Wharfe on Wednesday. As you can tell, I watched a lot of Brighton this week… You have to bear with me on this one, as he is 1-18 in all starts under rules and doesn’t win very often. However, he was unlucky to be on the wrong side of a photo finish this week and should surely pick up a classified contest in the coming weeks. He has finished second on his last three starts and looks better suited to an intermediate trip after sprinting for the early part of his career. His sole victory came at Kempton in October of last year off a mark of 53, so off his current rating of 50 he is historically well treated. Put him in your tracker.

Spirit Of Applause

Spirit Of Applause was the final leg of my trixie on Wednesday, so I thought: what’s the best way to get over the pain of him losing? Write about him in my column. Should he have won? Probably not, but after being outpaced at halfway and hitting the front with half a furlong to go, I thought we might just scramble home. Instead, we bumped into a well-backed winner in Great, from the Sam England team who often strike when the money is down. I have a feeling I might be sucked in to backing Spirit of Applause for the foreseeable future, as he is well treated off a mark of 67. He’s produced three good place efforts this season and hopefully -for my sanity- he will get his head in front soon.