Dion Baker

Across a long career of 63 races, Baker has won 5 times, which works out at roughly 1 win in every 13 races — not a horse that wins often, in other words. But the shape of those wins is revealing. All five of his career victories have come over distances of 7 furlongs to a mile, and three of his five wins have come on fast, dry ground — a 20% win rate on that surface, meaning he wins 1 in 5 when conditions suit. Compare that to his overall record and you start to see a horse that is genuinely transformed when things go his way.

Brighton is clearly where he is most at home. Two wins from six races there is a remarkable return for a horse who struggles to win elsewhere. Brighton's track is famously unusual — a tight, undulating course with a pronounced camber that suits certain horses and baffles others. Baker is plainly one of those horses it clicks for. His first career win came at Great Yarmouth in July 2023, but it's Brighton that has become his stage.

The puzzle in his profile is the class level. The vast majority of his races — 33 of them — have come at Class 5, the lower end of the British racing ladder, and he has not won once at that level. His wins have come in slightly different company. That's an unusual pattern and suggests he may actually perform better when pushed a little harder rather than coasting in easier races.

Jockey Adam Farragher has partnered Baker 15 times for just one win together, so that partnership hasn't quite found its spark yet. But with Michael Wigham's yard in decent form — 12 winners already this season — and Baker clearly in good nick off the back of a win, this is a horse whose next Brighton entry, on dry ground, over a mile, is worth circling on the calendar.