British Performance of the Week - 12 January 2026

Mongys Wild and Tiffield Taquin get 2026 Cat Ones started

The first two Category One competitions of 2026 are underway. The Coral Essex Vase kicked off at Romford on Friday night and it was Tiffield Tarquin who produced the quickest of the winning performances. The Mark Wallis team are mob handed with stars in the event but Roy Peckham's runner has held his own against some of the biggest names in the sport over four and six bends and continues to fly the flag for the smaller kennel. 

Mongys Wild was the quickest of the winners of the four heats of the Arena Racing Company Cesarewitch at Central Park on Saturday. He was more than six lengths clear of any of the other heat winners on time, and two are stars in their own rights in Droopys Flare and Romeo Empire. Ballymac Madgie was the second quickest on the night, chasing home the performance of the week winner for Shaun Gresham.

Last week's defeat proved to be just a blip for Born Racer who returned to winning ways at Towcester on Sunday. He has taken a real shine to the venue over the last month, and although it is a long way until June, the prospect of him taking on the likes of Shadow Storm in the National Sprint Trophy at the track on Derby final night is one to look forward to.

There was a dead heat at Sheffield on Sunday with Colliers Bucholz and Swift Hostile sharing not only the spoils of the race itself but also the performance of the week award. The pair produced an excellent battle for the win, with the former getting his head down on the line to join the latter for a share. 

At Doncaster, there were some solid performances over three different trips. Both Slaneyside Swade in a sprint and Bouncing Monarch over 483m had claims but in the end we have gone with the win of Look Smart over the shorter four-bend trip. A 27.80 run on a track that was subsequently rated as -60 was an exceptional effort from the Kirsty Grayson-trained son of Slippery Robert.

Rounding out a quick spin around Yorkshire is Kinsley and a sprinting success for Rectors Reprieve. He won a pair of A4 contests back-to-back in mid-December, taking the drop back to sprinting in his stride to take out a D2 contest.

It was a close call at Star Pelaw between the win of Thats It Jack over 435m on Tuesday's card and Ballymac Sargie over 590m on Sunday's. It was a toss up between them on their respective merits given the going for the pair, with the vote just coming down the way of the former who holds the Limerick 575y track record.

At Sunderland, it was a sprint winner again with Sunnyside Jayden beating last week's winner Toddys Wolf in the final of a Cat Three affair. The levels in the sprint ranks are strong at the moment and with an increased level of Cat One competitions for them to go at, 2026 should be a year where we really see the speedsters shine. 

There were a couple of smart top grade runs at Newcastle this week with the win of Fabulous Harmony just edging out the success of Coppice Saphire for the award. There was only a couple of spots in it on the clock but the victor was on normal against Coppice Sapphire on +10 which just swung the award in the favour of Joe Edgar's bitch.

Just one open race was run at Yarmouth last week, won on Saturday afternoon by Craig Morris's Thunder Dance. He was almost four lengths slower than the same kennels Flashing Fender in the very next race, however, so the award heads to the litter brother of Bockos Buster and Elusivenomore.

There have been some solid times in top grade at Hove already this year. Broncos Bullet added another last week, stopping the clock in 29.21 for the 500m. He had a couple of big gaps on his card last year between May and December but he has won a pair of A1 races on the bounce after steadily working his way up the graded ladder.

A back-to-back winner on the list this week is Nottingham's Aghaburren Ben. Barry Denby's charge has won four of his last six starts overall as well as four of his last six in A1. Last week was probably the best run of his career so far, producing his best time despite not picking up the lead until the run-in.

Wishful Decko is a rock-solid graded sprinter on his day, finding a D2 very much to his liking at Suffolk Downs on Wednesday. A former D1 winner at Towcester where he has dipped under 16 seconds, he produced by far the quickest sprint time so far in the very early stages of this year.

At Oxford, Fluff The Start did anything but to add an A2 win to the A3 success he had picked up the time before. He boasts a pair of D1 wins to boot, and is clearly failing to live up to his name with his early gears.

It was a constant battle against the weather last week at Monmore and the racing that they did manage to get on was on a very slow track. Sparta Kingdom produced the best of the efforts to continue his march up the grades. He was in A5 as recently as December 2, adding an A2 win to his haul last week for a fourth success in his last six starts. 

Just around the corner at Dunstall Park there were similar problems. It was Heathmill Nidge, who in picking up a top grade sprint win, landed the award. He has form over both two and four bends from Perry Barr back in the day as well as a Nottingham sprint open win, so has proved to be an adaptable type.

Deep ground at Valley saw times slow during the week. Droopys Priority proved to be the best of them, landing an A2 affair from the front on a track that was marked as -100. A four-time open race winner at the track, he also picked up a pair of opens at Swindon

Harlow rounds us out where Hollyhill Archie gets the nod, winning his fourth straight D3 contest for Sharon Saberton. He now has 21 wins in 43 career starts, so he knows what is required to get his head in front.