Mr Seagull

That one win came at Pontefract in August 2025, and it remains the high point of his career so far. Pontefract is a tight, undulating track that suits horses who dig in and grind — not the sort of place where flashy types tend to shine. The fact that Mr Seagull got it done there, rather than on a more straightforward course, is at least a small hint that there's something genuine in him when things click.

He's trained by Hugo Palmer, whose yard in Malpas, Cheshire, has been in good form this season — 67 winners sent out already, which is a serious total and shows this is a team that knows how to get horses ready to perform. Palmer works with horses at various levels, and a 3-year-old like Mr Seagull is still very much a work in progress. At this age, horses can improve quite sharply as the season goes on, so it would be premature to write him off based on a string of mid-pack finishes.

He raced just yesterday, which means he's being kept busy. That kind of active campaign is often how trainers find what a young horse is made of — throw him in, see how he responds, learn what conditions or distances bring out the best in him. The next win may still be a little way off, but with a team sending out winners at this rate, Mr Seagull is at least in good hands while he figures things out.