Patrol

Trained by Dylan Cunha out of Newmarket — a yard that has sent out 45 winners already this season, so this is no sleepy operation — Patrol has put together a career record of 3 wins and 13 places from 27 races. That means it has finished in the top few nearly six times out of every ten, which tells you this is a horse that shows up and competes. It just does not always get its nose in front. The most recent win came at Southwell on 6 April 2025, and the first career win was also there, back in December 2024. The track suits, plainly.

The partnership with jockey Rhys Clutterbuck is worth noting. In five races together they have won twice — a 40% win rate, or 2 from 5 — which is the kind of number that makes a trainer keep picking up the phone to the same jockey. For context, Patrol wins roughly 1 in 9 races overall, so that figure with Clutterbuck is more than three times its usual rate. Something clicks between them.

The horse also has clear preferences beyond just the track. On normal ground conditions it has won 3 of its 12 races — 1 in 4 — and it performs best over longer trips, between a mile and six furlongs and two miles, where it has won 2 of 10 races. These are not accidents; they are patterns. Patrol is a horse that wants the right track, the right ground, and ideally the right jockey.

The last six races — finishing fifth, eighth, second, second, fourth, and third — show a horse running consistently without quite converting. It raced just yesterday, so the team clearly believes it is in good enough form to keep it busy. Whether the next Southwell entry is already circled on the calendar, one could only guess — but the evidence suggests it probably should be.