Pathein

Back in April, Dunlop described Pathein as a horse he was saving for later in the year: a well-built horse with a good pedigree on his mother's side, who cost serious money at the sales. His father is St Mark's Basilica, a horse who won four consecutive Group 1 races — the very highest level of the sport — for champion trainer Aidan O'Brien in 2021. That kind of breeding does not guarantee anything, but it does mean expectations come with the territory.

Those expectations were met, at least partially, on 13 September 2025. Pathein won at Doncaster in a Class 2 race, his first career victory, and jockey Robert Havlin offered a telling assessment afterwards. He said Pathein got away with the ground conditions on the day and is still a bit on the weak side physically — in other words, this horse is not yet the finished article. But Havlin also noted that Pathein has a good attitude, which in racing is often the thing that separates horses who fulfil their potential from those who don't.

His overall record reads one win and three places from five races, a win rate of 20 percent — roughly one in every five. His recent form tells a more complicated story: after that Doncaster win, his last three runs have seen him finish third, third, and nineteenth. That final result is a sharp reminder that a promising young horse's career rarely runs in a straight line. He raced just one day ago, so Dunlop is clearly keeping him busy.

The yard itself is having a productive season, sending out 39 winners so far, which provides a solid platform around this horse. The honest picture of Pathein right now is of a horse with genuine talent and genuine breeding who is still physically growing into himself. That Doncaster win at a high level was no fluke — but the bigger question is whether the horse that Dunlop envisioned back in April will eventually show up in full.