Patriotik

That standout moment came at Doncaster on 1 March 2025, when Patriotik won a Class 2 race — one of the top contests in British racing. Winning at that level, on fast, drying ground over three miles, was no fluke. His regular rider Isabel Williams said afterwards that he is a naturally good jumper who thrives when the ground isn't too wet or muddy, and that getting him back to that trip after an earlier setback at Haydock had been the whole plan. It worked. The problem is that nothing since has come close to matching it.

His last six results read 5-6-10-6-12-12 — a slow slide from near misses to well-beaten finishes. He has not won in those six races, and his trainer Mrs C Williams, based at Llancarfan in the Vale of Glamorgan, has been candid about it. Speaking earlier this year, she admitted he had been disappointing given how well he ran on those two occasions in March 2024 and 2025, and that she has no obvious explanation for the dip. She is considering trying him in headgear — a hood or visor — to see if something mental rather than physical is holding him back. She had also hoped to send him jumping fences by now, which is a different and often more demanding discipline, but is keeping him over hurdles until he rediscovers the form that made Doncaster look so promising.

Isabel Williams has ridden Patriotik in 16 of his 17 races, winning 2 of them — that same 1 in 8 rate. It is an unusually loyal partnership for a horse still searching for consistency. The yard has sent out 3 winners this season, so it is not a stable in crisis. Patriotik, now 80 days since his last race and freshened up by a short break, remains a horse whose trainer believes the best version of him is still waiting to emerge — probably over fences, probably on a dry day, and hopefully soon.