British Performance of the Week - 19 January 2026

Tarquin and Disco vie for performance of the week

Tiffield Tarquin will head into the final of the Coral Essex Vase on Friday night as one of two unbeaten finalists and the market leader to take home the £10,000 winner's cheque. His 34.74 run matched the one that he produced in the semis of the Champion Stakes back in October, though he would find New Destiny too strong on that occasion and Mark Wallis's bitch looms large again from her perfect draw coming up.

The other Category One to hit the semi-final stage was the Arena Racing Company Cesarewitch where Deadly Disco led the times, though he did not have much in hand over Romeo Empire who landed the other semi-final. The pair are joint second favourites behind Mongys Wild, who despite being behind Deadly Disco on Saturday, is still the red-hot favourite to take the crown.

The record that Slick Sentinel has at Towcester is an exceptional one and he added to that with another smart win on Sunday afternoon. He boasts a 50% strike rate at the Northamptonshire venue, winning a Juvenile Classic, running up in a Blue Riband and making a Derby semi-final. 

At Monmore, Ballinakill Liam set about making 2026 another successful year with a time that was only surpassed five times in the entirety of 2025. Three of those five were by himself as he stretched his 264m record at the track to a perfect 6/6. 

It was another smart week for the sprinters with Bockos Buster taking the award at Nottingham. The National Sprint finalist set down an early marker for the year with his success over Da Don who is starting to turn into a solid yardstick himself over two bends. 

Wanted Tibet made her UK debut on Sunday evening at Star Pelaw and will have gone straight into many notebooks as one to follow. She was progressive in four starts in Ireland, clocking the third quickest 300y time of the year at Clonmel. With so few miles on the clock, it's easy to think that there will be more to come from her. 

Sunderland saw Slingshot Gazza take the award with a smart sprint win. Just Stonepark Hoffa (twice) went quicker though 2025, than his winning time, and Toddys Wolf earlier on this year, so he has started his year on a high note. Last year was a superb one for the Ted Soppitt kennel and they are already 7/16 with open runners less than three weeks into this year. 

The impressive start to her career continued for Soapy Suds at Doncaster on Saturday night. The bet365 Puppy Oaks finalist suffered her only defeat in that decider, keeping on powerfully to beat a decent field. She is a half-sister to the likes of Bombay Nutty and Lilys Bullet and the way she came home over the stiff 483m, she too could end up over six bends in time, though connections should have plenty of fun from her over four bends yet.

David Lewis's Alright Twinkle produced an excellent effort at Oxford on Sunday afternoon, right back to something like the winning form that she had shown at the track back in the autumn. From a repeat mating to one that threw Oaks winner Jet Stream Angel and a half-sister to Susie Sapphire, she has the breeding to go onto better things. 

Top action was limited at Sheffield last week but Aurora Dawn produced a decent display to take out a 500m contest. She has proven to be a solid grader at the track to this point, and she is out of another Sheffield grader who was trained by Gwyneth Rees, so this win will have meant that bit more to connections. 

Yarmouth has been a happy hunting ground for Flashing Fender, picking up an open race win to close out Saturday's card. He has won four of his last five starts now, the only second in that string of runs came on Boxing Day when he chased home Laugh Alot in the track championship. 

Sticking with action on the east side of the country and it was a win for Westfield Vicky at Suffolk Downs. With the track running slow it made it tough to pick a winner, and even though the outside of the track will have helped her, she used her typical away and gone tactics to see off a decent field. Six wins from her last seven races, she is a bitch in the form of her life at present. 

A back-to-back winner on the week was Fabulous Harmony who landed an A1 contest again. She has really found her trapping boots in those two wins, and if she can continue to produce those splits, she could continue to add her name to the winning column further in the coming weeks. 

There was a decent sprint win at Dunstall Park from Society Ben who ducked under the 16-second barrier. His strong-running efforts over 270m there have seen him climb the grades in recent weeks. He was a D3 winner on December 5 and a D2 winner to kick off 2026 on January 8 ahead of his top-grade victory last week.

Hove lost their best card of the week on Thursday evening, the award going to Front Uno who enjoyed the drop to easier company in A2 on Sunday. He had finished fourth behind Broncos Bullet the week prior when that runner won POW for his A1 success.

Emers Lola took the award at Kinsley for winning an A5. It was lucky number 13 for her, getting her head in front in style. She did not manage to back it up later on in the week but connections have this win to keep them warm for a while.

Veteran Ritzy Queen got the job done at Harlow. She was a D1 winner at Central Park in the first half of 2025, scoring a D2 success at Harlow in the autumn. This was a D3 contest, so it should not be a huge surprise that she was more than up to the task.

At Valley it was Pandy Chris who produced the first sub 16-second time of the year at the track. He won seven straight races from September to November last year at the track over four bends but is clearly just as capable as a sprinter.