forever proud

Forever Proud is a consistent five-year-old Sioux Nation mare with five victories to her name, three of which have come under the training of James Owen in Newmarket.

Out of the useful four-time winner Marsh Pride, she was unplaced in two outings as a two-year-old but displayed immediate promise the following year. She finished third in a 1m Newcastle maiden on her first start at three and earned an opening handicap rating of 69 shortly afterwards.

That mark had tumbled to just 47 by the time that Forever Proud opened her account in a 1m2f classified contest at Lingfield in January of last year, and she was only rated 48 when winning a class 6 handicap over the same course and distance a couple of months later. She continued to run well at the Surrey venue until joining the Deva Racing fold and switching to her current stable following a transfer at the Tattersalls August Online Sale.

James is a dab hand at improving recruits from other yards, as he has demonstrated with the likes of Destinado, Enthused, My Gift To You and Mermaids Cave, to name just a few. Joining her new stable with a rating of just 48, it didn’t take long for the Owen team to find the key to Forever Proud. She was third at Lingfield on her debut in Deva Racing silks before opening her account for new connections in a 1m handicap at Chelmsford in December. 

She finished a narrow second over half a furlong further at Wolverhampton two days later, then registered back-to-back wins at the Midlands venue on either side of the New Year. On her most recent run, at the time of writing, she was second in a 0-58 handicap over 1m2f at Lingfield under a 5lb penalty. When that extra burden is considered, she was racing from a mark of 59, which demonstrated the rapid improvement she has made since racing in Devacolours. 

And hopefully the best is yet to come!