Darvel

The most striking number in his record is at Chepstow, where he has won 2 of just 3 races. That kind of record at a single track — two wins from three visits — is the sort of thing that makes trainers ring their owners with a particular tone of voice. It is where his career began, too, with his first win coming there in May 2022, and the track clearly suits him in a way that is hard to fully explain but impossible to ignore. His trainer Patrick Chamings was candid early on about not knowing a great deal about Darvel at that stage, running him quickly to find things out — and what they found was a horse who had been quietly underperforming on the all-weather over winter and needed the right surface and the right track to show his real ability.

Chamings, who trains out of Baughurst in Hampshire and has sent out 9 winners already this season, has spoken warmly about Darvel having more ability than his official rating gives him credit for. Jockey Billy Loughnane echoed that after riding him at Brighton, saying he was confident Darvel would keep going once he hit the front — and that when a jockey says a horse "wasn't going to stop," that is usually worth taking seriously. His most regular partner is Hector Crouch, who has won 2 of their 10 races together, a 20% win rate that is actually stronger than Darvel's overall career average.

His recent form reads 10-5-9-7-3-1 going back through his last six runs, meaning a mix of modest efforts and a win at Salisbury last August. He raced just yesterday, so he is clearly in an active spell. Most of his racing has come at Class 5 level — the bread-and-butter tier of British racing — where he has won 4 of 24 races. He is not a horse chasing glory at the top table, but at his level and on his favourite tracks, he remains genuinely worth following.