Dion Baker

The Brighton record is the headline act. Four wins from 9 races at that course means Dion Baker has won nearly half its races there — in a sport where winning 1 in every 5 is considered excellent, that figure is remarkable. Something about that track suits this horse in a way that most tracks simply don't. Brighton sits on a hillside and has one of the most unusual, undulating layouts in British racing, and not every horse takes to it. Dion Baker absolutely does.

Dry ground is the other key ingredient. On fast, dry ground, this horse has won 6 from 20 races — that's 30%, or almost 1 in every 3 outings. Compare that to an overall career win rate of 13% (9 wins from 69 races), and the pattern is stark. When the sun has been out and the ground is firm underfoot, Dion Baker becomes a very different proposition.

Trained by Michael Wigham out of Newmarket — one of the spiritual homes of British racing — the horse is part of a yard that has sent out 12 winners already this season, so there's clearly something working well there at the moment. The regular jockey, Adam Farragher, has only won once together from 15 rides, which is a curious footnote given the horse's current form. Someone in that partnership is clearly doing something right regardless.

The one puzzle in the record is that Dion Baker has never won at Class 5 level — the most common tier it races at — going 0 from 33 at that grade. That's a strange stat to sit alongside 9 career wins, and it suggests those wins have come at different levels or in different contexts. What it tells you, above all else, is that this horse has its quirks. It knows what it likes — a sunny day, a trip to Brighton — and right now, it's getting exactly that.