Raceday LIVE – Katalyst
Southwell,
Fri 19 Dec 2025 14:15
Related horse(s):
Katalyst
Katalyst steps up in trip to a mile for the first time this afternoon as she heads back to Southwell for their Nursery Handicap at 14:15.
Read our Raceday LIVE Preview below and join us ahead of the race for all the build-up and live updates from the track on X (@CRCofficial).
Raceday LIVE Preview
Katalyst makes just the fifth start of her career at Southwell this afternoon, as she takes part in a nursery handicap contest for two-year-old runners, likely her last in such conditions as we're only two weeks out from the start of her three year old season. Her first four runs have yielded mixed results, with two very pleasing performances in the middle of two slightly more disappointing efforts.
Her debut can be forgiven, as she was clearly showing signs of greenness, which were there at Newbury when she was due to make her first start but refused to go into the stalls before the race. The improvement was there to see at Kempton on her second start, where she was up against some entries from powerhouse owners such as Qatar Racing, Cheveley Park, Wathnan and Godolphin. Those runners were the only four to finish ahead of Katalyst that day, in a race which she was sent off at a staggering SP of 400/1.
Further improvement came in her next run which was at today's course, where Katalyst again finished in fifth place, only two lengths behind the eventual winner of the race. Interestingly, the horse who finished two and a half lengths behind Katalyst that day won next time out, beating today's rival Emma's Letter. For that performance, she was given an opening handicap mark of 68, but instead of going down that route straight away, Chris Grassick decided to put her into maiden company. On that day, she ran another great race for the most part, but faded quite late on, at which point jockey Kaiya Fraser let her get home in her own time to not push her any further.
WATCH: Kaiya Fraser tells us how he thought Katalyst got on at Wolverhampton
Today marks Katalyst's first appearance in a handicap contest, and she's thrown in towards the top end of the handicap off a mark of 66, three pounds lower than the top weight, My Shagaf. India Gold comes into the race looking for back-to-back wins having scored on the turf over 7f at Musselburgh in a valuable Class 2 contest last time out. Whereas Stay Sharp and Emma's Letter both won two starts ago, with the latter scoring on the tapeta at Newcastle over today's distance.
Katalyst's draw in stall 2 should be beneficial to her, given the sharp nature of the Nottinghamshire track, and providing she breaks as well as she has done in most of her contests to date, Katalyst should be able to get herself into a handy position early on in the race. She performed well out of stall 3 when she last came to Southwell, which also bodes well for the team this afternoon, and hopefully she can put her best foot forward and go close to getting off the mark to end the year.
WATCH: Chris Grassick gives us a pre-race update on Katalyst and how she's been doing at home
Pipped At The Post – Member Exclusive
As a Coral Racing Club member, thanks to our Pipped At The Post offer, once you opt-in, you could be paid as a WINNER in CASH up to a stake of £/€10 if your horse finishes 2nd by a head or less behind the winner in today's 14:15 at Southwell – click here to find out more.
Racing TV Analyst, Chris Dixon, gives us some insight into today's 14:15 at Southwell and who he thinks might come out on top in the race
Katalyst hasn’t looked the most straightforward of fillies in her four starts to date, regularly showing a tendency to flash her tail and hang so it’s hard to be overly optimistic about her chances, though from a handicapping perspective there’s probably feasibly treated on her handicap debut. She needs to bounce back from a poor run at Wolverhampton last time but the return to a more galloping track, where she probably ran her best race, looks a plus and at least that Wolverhampton form has worked out with both the winner and second winning since. This will also be a step up in trip to 1m for the first time and that may help, especially as her dam won over middle distances. Tactically I’d expect her to adopt her usual prominent pitch and taking a lead of likely front runner Stay Sharp would look the right move.
Emma’s Letter is in form and wasn’t beaten far on her handicap debut at Wolverhampton last time despite not really travelling. She could be suited by this more galloping track and looks likely to be involved, while Florida Suite is a possible improver. The William Haggas-trained filly hasn’t threatened to win in three runs to date but starts out off a modest mark and quite a few of her family have responded well to headgear and the application of blinkers for the first time could have a big impact. Plenty of others have a chance in an open race including Archangel Josepi and Farabove The Limit who both ran well at Newcastle last time and India Gold who won at Musselburgh last month.
Trainer and Jockey Statistics
William Muir and Chris Grassick have only sent out four runners in the past two weeks, however, one of those was a winner at today's course which came a week ago today with today's jockey Lewis Edmunds in the saddle. The training duo have a very respectable record at Southwell so far this year, sending out four winners from 19 runners.
Lewis Edmunds is a very experienced jockey for a 27-year-old who is just 11 rides away from having the 4,000th of his career. In that time he's ridden 513 times at Southwell on the all-weather and in the process has notched up 61 winners, with a further 97 finishing second or third.
Katalyst's Owners for the Day
As winners of the recent Owner for the Day competition, 10 lucky Coral Racing Club members have been given the chance to enjoy an exclusive owners experience for Katalyst's run at Southwell this evening.
What's included in this Owner for the Day prize?
Prize Money
Today's Class 5 contest is worth £7,100 in total, with the winner set to scoop £3,716 for their lucky owners.
2nd: £1,743 | 3rd: £871 | 4th: £435 | 5th: £217
SOUTHWELL 14:15 – LATEST ODDS
We hope you enjoyed reading today's Raceday LIVE Preview. Don't forget to tune in just before 14:15 to watch Katalyst's next run for the club live on the Coral Sports app.
Read our Raceday LIVE Preview below and join us ahead of the race for all the build-up and live updates from the track on X (@CRCofficial).
Raceday LIVE Preview
Katalyst makes just the fifth start of her career at Southwell this afternoon, as she takes part in a nursery handicap contest for two-year-old runners, likely her last in such conditions as we're only two weeks out from the start of her three year old season. Her first four runs have yielded mixed results, with two very pleasing performances in the middle of two slightly more disappointing efforts.
Her debut can be forgiven, as she was clearly showing signs of greenness, which were there at Newbury when she was due to make her first start but refused to go into the stalls before the race. The improvement was there to see at Kempton on her second start, where she was up against some entries from powerhouse owners such as Qatar Racing, Cheveley Park, Wathnan and Godolphin. Those runners were the only four to finish ahead of Katalyst that day, in a race which she was sent off at a staggering SP of 400/1.
Further improvement came in her next run which was at today's course, where Katalyst again finished in fifth place, only two lengths behind the eventual winner of the race. Interestingly, the horse who finished two and a half lengths behind Katalyst that day won next time out, beating today's rival Emma's Letter. For that performance, she was given an opening handicap mark of 68, but instead of going down that route straight away, Chris Grassick decided to put her into maiden company. On that day, she ran another great race for the most part, but faded quite late on, at which point jockey Kaiya Fraser let her get home in her own time to not push her any further.
WATCH: Kaiya Fraser tells us how he thought Katalyst got on at Wolverhampton
Today marks Katalyst's first appearance in a handicap contest, and she's thrown in towards the top end of the handicap off a mark of 66, three pounds lower than the top weight, My Shagaf. India Gold comes into the race looking for back-to-back wins having scored on the turf over 7f at Musselburgh in a valuable Class 2 contest last time out. Whereas Stay Sharp and Emma's Letter both won two starts ago, with the latter scoring on the tapeta at Newcastle over today's distance.
Katalyst's draw in stall 2 should be beneficial to her, given the sharp nature of the Nottinghamshire track, and providing she breaks as well as she has done in most of her contests to date, Katalyst should be able to get herself into a handy position early on in the race. She performed well out of stall 3 when she last came to Southwell, which also bodes well for the team this afternoon, and hopefully she can put her best foot forward and go close to getting off the mark to end the year.
WATCH: Chris Grassick gives us a pre-race update on Katalyst and how she's been doing at home
Pipped At The Post – Member Exclusive
As a Coral Racing Club member, thanks to our Pipped At The Post offer, once you opt-in, you could be paid as a WINNER in CASH up to a stake of £/€10 if your horse finishes 2nd by a head or less behind the winner in today's 14:15 at Southwell – click here to find out more.
Katalyst hasn’t looked the most straightforward of fillies in her four starts to date, regularly showing a tendency to flash her tail and hang so it’s hard to be overly optimistic about her chances, though from a handicapping perspective there’s probably feasibly treated on her handicap debut. She needs to bounce back from a poor run at Wolverhampton last time but the return to a more galloping track, where she probably ran her best race, looks a plus and at least that Wolverhampton form has worked out with both the winner and second winning since. This will also be a step up in trip to 1m for the first time and that may help, especially as her dam won over middle distances. Tactically I’d expect her to adopt her usual prominent pitch and taking a lead of likely front runner Stay Sharp would look the right move.
Emma’s Letter is in form and wasn’t beaten far on her handicap debut at Wolverhampton last time despite not really travelling. She could be suited by this more galloping track and looks likely to be involved, while Florida Suite is a possible improver. The William Haggas-trained filly hasn’t threatened to win in three runs to date but starts out off a modest mark and quite a few of her family have responded well to headgear and the application of blinkers for the first time could have a big impact. Plenty of others have a chance in an open race including Archangel Josepi and Farabove The Limit who both ran well at Newcastle last time and India Gold who won at Musselburgh last month.
Trainer and Jockey Statistics
William Muir and Chris Grassick have only sent out four runners in the past two weeks, however, one of those was a winner at today's course which came a week ago today with today's jockey Lewis Edmunds in the saddle. The training duo have a very respectable record at Southwell so far this year, sending out four winners from 19 runners.
Lewis Edmunds is a very experienced jockey for a 27-year-old who is just 11 rides away from having the 4,000th of his career. In that time he's ridden 513 times at Southwell on the all-weather and in the process has notched up 61 winners, with a further 97 finishing second or third.
Katalyst's Owners for the Day
As winners of the recent Owner for the Day competition, 10 lucky Coral Racing Club members have been given the chance to enjoy an exclusive owners experience for Katalyst's run at Southwell this evening.
What's included in this Owner for the Day prize?
- Free racecourse entry
- Access to the Owners & Trainers enclosure
- Access to the Parade Ring before the race
- Meet Katalyst and the Muir and Grassick team
- Take home a 10% share of any prize money she wins
Prize Money
Today's Class 5 contest is worth £7,100 in total, with the winner set to scoop £3,716 for their lucky owners.
2nd: £1,743 | 3rd: £871 | 4th: £435 | 5th: £217
SOUTHWELL 14:15 – LATEST ODDS
We hope you enjoyed reading today's Raceday LIVE Preview. Don't forget to tune in just before 14:15 to watch Katalyst's next run for the club live on the Coral Sports app.
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