Deluca Chop

What matters right now is that Deluca Chop has won 2 of its last 6 races, and one of those wins came just this week at Down Royal on 20 June 2026. That is about as current as form gets — this horse is active, it is fit, and it is winning. The first career win came back in February 2023 at Dundalk, so the horse has been around long enough to know what it is doing. Three and a half years on from that debut win, it appears to have hit a real purple patch.

One wrinkle worth noting is the record alongside jockey Shane Foley. He has ridden Deluca Chop six times without finding the winner's enclosure together — 0 wins from 6 partnerships. That is not necessarily a knock on either horse or rider, but it is the kind of stat that catches the eye when the horse clearly has the ability to win. Someone, somewhere in the team, may already be thinking about that number.

At seven years old, Deluca Chop is not a young prospect building towards something — it is a racehorse in the prime of its working life, and right now it is doing exactly what a racehorse is supposed to do. Two wins from the last six races, a placed finish in nearly every one of those outings, and a winner's return just days ago. For a horse that had previously managed 1 win in roughly every 10 races, this stretch represents a genuine step up. Whatever has clicked for Deluca Chop recently, it is very much clicking.