Chicago Critic

The most telling number in Chicago Critic's file is this: 3 wins from 9 races at distances between a mile and a furlong and a mile and two furlongs, which is a win rate of 33%, or roughly 1 in every 3. That is a dramatically better horse than the overall record suggests. Get Chicago Critic to the right distance and you are looking at a genuine contender; ask it to do something else and the interest fades quickly. It is the kind of quirk that separates the people who watch carefully from those who just scan the results.

The connection with jockey Ben Coen is worth noting. Coen has been in the saddle for 16 of Chicago Critic's 21 races and has ridden all three of its wins — a win rate of 19%, or roughly 1 in every 5 rides together. That is meaningfully better than the horse's overall record, and it suggests the partnership has genuine value. When Coen is not riding, the results get thinner. Trainer J P Murtagh, based at Coolaghknock Glebe in Co Kildare, has had a productive season with 53 winners sent out from the yard, so Chicago Critic operates within an operation that clearly knows how to place a horse well.

There is a small puzzle at the heart of Chicago Critic's recent form. Its last win came at Leopardstown in May 2025, and in the six races since, the best it has managed is a fourth place. The recent figures read 4-4-8-4-6-2, which is not a horse in freefall — it is placing, it is competitive, it is racing actively — but the win has not come. It raced just one day ago, which makes this a live and current story rather than a historical one. The two wins at Naas, where it first broke its duck back in October 2023, hint at a horse that responds to a track it knows. Whether that next win is close depends largely on whether the right race, the right distance, and Ben Coen all align at once.