Newsreader

The horse is utterly dominant at Kempton Park. In eight races there, Newsreader has won three times — a 38% win rate at a single track that no horse can ignore. That dominance has wobbled lately, though. The most recent win came on 6 November 2024, nearly two years ago now, and in the last six outings Newsreader has not found the winner's circle, though there have been three places in that stretch. This is a horse searching for form.

The pattern points to wet ground being the key. On slow or muddy surfaces, Newsreader wins roughly 2 races in every 5 (three wins from seven attempts). Put the horse on fast, dry ground and the record collapses. There is also a clear distance sweet spot: anything between seven furlongs and a mile suits Newsreader best, yielding three wins from thirteen races at that trip. Stretching beyond that or dropping shorter produces little.

Tony Carroll's Cropthorne yard has been prolific this season, sending out 136 winners, and Newsreader has been one of the yard's projects at Class 4 level — modest company where the horse has won two of eleven races. The real story, though, is the partnership with jockey Benoit De La Sayette. When the two have teamed up, De La Sayette has ridden the horse to victory in three of eight races — a 38% win rate that matches Newsreader's Kempton success precisely. It is no coincidence that two of those three wins came at Kempton. Right now, with no winner in half a year of racing, Newsreader needs a race on soft ground back at its spiritual home to rediscover the form that once made it formidable.