Once upon a time in the 6th Century, in a deep dark wood somewhere in the middle of Anglo-Saxon England, lived a leader called Beorma. The hamlet where he lived, a dry site with a good supply of water, was known as Bermingehame (homestead of the place named for Beorma) or Birmingham as it is better known today.

Blessed with easy access to coal, timber and iron ore, the settlement grew and obtained a market charter from Henry II in 1166. By 1538 the population exceeded 1,500. Horseracing was recorded in the area from 1747 and a racecourse was built at Bromford Bridge in 1894. Located on flat water meadows beside the River Tame, the course was popular with spectators – making it an ideal target for Suffragettes, who burnt the grandstand down in 1914.

The racecourse was requisitioned by the army, hosting barrage balloons and anti-aircraft guns during the Second World War, before racing was restored in 1946 – when Gordon Richards rode seven winners at the opening 2-day meeting. But the good times didn’t last – the surrounding area, which had once been so green, had become industrialised and held less appeal for visitors. The racecourse closed its gates for good on 21st June, 1965, when Greville Starkey won the Farewell Plate over 5 furlongs aboard a horse named Welshman. It’s recorded the final horse to pass the post was Plantation.

Today Birmingham is home to a shade under 1.2 million people and, although they don’t have a racecourse, they’ll be pleased to know that the city’s founding father (or possibly mother – Google doesn’t relate) has a racehorse named after them. And quite a notable one too.

Because among all the fine training feats witnessed this month (from Epsom’s Derby meeting to Royal Ascot, where this week’s selection is Realign in the Wokingham Stakes), has there been anything better than Dan Skelton’s campaigning of Beorma? The seven-year-old mare has just won her seventh race in 23 days. Starting with victory in a handicap chase at Worcester (one of the nearest tracks to her namesake’s heartland), she then went on to win hurdle races at Southwell and Warwick on consecutive days, 2nd and 3rd June. More chasing wins followed at Southwell (9th June), Worcester (11th June) and Newton Abbot (12th June) and a further hurdle race at Market Rasen (19th June).

There will have been plenty of higher quality horses unbeaten over long periods of time – Altior springs to mind, with 19 top class wins between October 2015 and April 2019.

But few have racked up quite so many victories in such a short space of time. Chaplins Club once rattled up seven wins in a 19-day period in from 16th July to August 3rd, but that was on the Flat over sprint distances whereas Beorma has been winning over obstacles and distances of 2 miles and more.

As legends go, she’d be worthy of naming a city after.