Count Palatine

Trained by Michael Dods at Piercebridge in County Durham, Count Palatine is part of a yard that has been firing on all cylinders — 43 winners already this season is a serious number, and it reflects a team operating with real confidence. The challenge for Count Palatine has been keeping up with that momentum. His last win came at Ayr on 30 September 2025, nearly nine months ago now, and his recent form reads 14-3-10-13-2-1 from his last six races, listed most recent first. That means a 14th and a 10th bookending a second place — the picture of a horse running at the edges of his best.

The race where this horse has consistently looked most at home is at Class 4 level, one step below the elite end of the sport, where he has won 2 from 11 races (18%, or roughly 1 in every 5 or 6 attempts at that grade). It is a sensible level for him — competitive enough to mean something, without the deep pockets of talent he would face higher up. His first career win came at Thirsk in September 2024, and the partnership with jockey Connor Beasley has been one of the more productive threads running through his career: together they have won 2 from 9 races, a win rate of 22%, which means they are clicking roughly 1 in every 4 or 5 times they line up. That is well above Count Palatine's overall average, suggesting Beasley knows how to get the best out of him.

He raced just one day ago, which makes him one of the more active horses around at the moment. The recent results have been inconsistent, but a horse who has placed in 12 of his 30 races — nearly once in every three outings — is rarely out of it entirely. Count Palatine is not a headline act, but he is the kind of dependable, competitive horse that keeps a yard ticking along.