Dragon Leader

What makes Dragon Leader's record particularly interesting is how surgically good he is over shorter distances. At five to six-and-a-half furlongs, he has won 4 of just 5 races — an extraordinary 80% record. That is a horse who genuinely thrives in his ideal conditions rather than just stumbling into form. Clive Cox, who trains him out of Lambourn and has sent out 48 winners already this season, briefly entertained thoughts of Group company after York. Jockey Ryan Moore rode that win, and Cox was quick to praise stable hand John Fahy for getting the horse to the track in such shape. After Redcar, jockey Richard Kingscote called him "a sweet, likeable horse" — which in racing terms is the kind of thing people say about a horse they genuinely enjoy being around.

The honest part of the story is that Dragon Leader has not won in six races now, a drought stretching back 32 months to that Redcar success. He has finished second and third in that time, so he has not fallen apart entirely — but he has also crossed the line thirteenth and eighth in that sequence, and his most recent run saw him drawn in stall 14 at Newbury's Spring Cup, which Cox has admitted made life very difficult before the race even began. After a disappointing spell last season, the horse was gelded and had a minor wind operation — practical steps that suggest the team still believes there is a proper horse in there worth finding again.

At Class 2 level, where he typically competes, he has won just 1 from 7 races — around 14% — which is a more realistic benchmark than his headline numbers suggest. But Dragon Leader raced just yesterday, so he is firmly in the mix. Cox says he is training nicely, and there is enough in the record to believe another good day might not be far away.