Copper Knight

The ground matters enormously with Copper Knight, and the pattern is striking. On slightly soft ground he has won 4 from 14 races — nearly 1 in 3. On genuinely wet, muddy ground that figure climbs to 3 wins from just 9 races, or 1 in 3. When conditions are in his favour, he becomes a different proposition entirely. Pontefract is worth flagging too: 2 wins from just 3 visits puts him among the most effective horses at that track, full stop. When trainer Tim Easterby's assistant William Easterby called him "a real yard superstar" after the Pontefract win, he was not simply being polite.

The Easterby yard at Great Habton in North Yorkshire has sent out 128 winners this season alone, so praise from inside that operation carries weight. Sean Kirrane is the jockey who knows Copper Knight best, winning 4 of their 15 races together — that is 1 in every 4 — and jockey Duran Fentiman, who rode him to win at Chester, described him as "a super old boy and a proper racehorse." That kind of language, from professionals who ride dozens of horses a week, tells you something real.

Copper Knight raced just one day ago and is still very much in active training. At twelve, most racehorses have long since retired, but Easterby noted back in spring 2024 that "you'd never know he was ten years old" — a comment that has only aged better since. His recent form reads 9th, 6th, 18th, 1st, 2nd, 12th from last to most recent, which is the erratic sequence of a horse who saves his best for the right moment. When the ground turns soft and the course suits, Copper Knight has a habit of reminding everyone exactly what he is capable of.