Durham Castle

The Crisford yard has been in fine form this season, sending out 85 winners, and Durham Castle has played its part. The horse won three of its last six races, a sequence that includes a first career victory at Southwell in August 2024 and a most recent win at Windsor in June 2025. That Windsor success is now ten months ago, so there is an element of anticipation around when this horse will return to the winner's enclosure — and it raced just three days ago, so the campaign is very much alive.

What the recent form string tells an experienced observer is interesting. Reading right to left — which is oldest to newest — Durham Castle won three times in a row before finishing third, then slipping back to seventh, then bouncing back with a win. That kind of up-and-down pattern is not unusual for a horse running regularly and adapting to different conditions and competition, but the overall picture remains one of a horse that wins far more often than most. For context, the average racehorse in Britain wins somewhere between 1 in 8 and 1 in 10 races over its career. Durham Castle is winning closer to 1 in 2.

Whether it can string another winning run together is the open question. The Crisford team clearly know what they are doing — 85 winners in a season from a yard based in Newmarket, one of British racing's most competitive training centres, is a serious tally. A horse with this win rate in their care is one to watch.