Criminal Shore

The story of his season so far is genuinely encouraging. He broke his duck at Ripon in April 2025, then backed it up with that Newcastle victory in June 2026, and his last six runs read 1-4-8-5-4-4 — so a win, a couple of respectable placings, and two middling efforts sandwiched in between. It is the kind of form that tells you this is a horse who has good days and ordinary days, but is currently having his good ones.

Where Criminal Shore really comes alive is at a distance of a mile and one furlong to a mile and two furlongs. At those trips he has won 2 of his 12 races — roughly 1 in every 6 — which is a much stronger picture than his overall record suggests. That conversion rate at his preferred distance is the number worth holding onto. He finds his rhythm over a proper middle-distance trip, and the yard who have targeted him at those distances have been rewarded.

He is trained by David O'Meara at Upper Helmsley in North Yorkshire, and the yard is operating at full tilt this season — 107 winners sent out already, which puts it firmly among the most productive operations in the north of England. That level of firepower matters, because it means horses in this yard tend to be placed intelligently and aimed at the right races. The interesting footnote is that his most regular rider, Daniel Tudhope, has not yet managed a win together across five attempts. Tudhope is one of the better jockeys around, so that blank is a quirk rather than a concern — but whoever rode him to victory at Newcastle this week will have earned their moment.