Haydock winner is on the rise - but further progress will need to be rapid to win the Nunthorpe

It is fair to say the Achilles Stakes is rarely a pointer to future glory, with the race won by a horse aged five years or more in nine of the last ten runnings. 

Regional, this year’s winner, may be a five-year-old but his profile is a little different to the norm having run just 15 times. Perhaps more crucially, fewer than half of his runs have been at five furlongs, a distance at which he has thrived this year.

For a horse of his age, Regional has improved in notable chunks this year, posting a Racing Post Rating of 112 when winning a handicap at York on his reappearance before taking his form to even greater heights at Haydock, earning a new RPR of 117. That figure is the best achieved in the race since it was inaugurated in 1995, followed closely by the 116 posted by Take Cover in 2016 and The Trader in 2002.