Play Me

Those two wins carry a bit of geography with them. The first came at Epsom Downs in August 2025, which is significant given that Play Me is trained just down the road by Jim Boyle, whose Surrey yard has been in sharp form this season with 25 winners on the board. Horses trained locally at Epsom often have an edge on that notoriously tricky track, where the camber and the famous downhill bend catch out visitors. Then, just this week, Play Me added a second win at Brighton — another course on the south coast where local knowledge and track familiarity tend to matter. It is not a coincidence that both victories have come at tracks that reward horses who know the terrain.

On normal ground conditions, Play Me is a different proposition entirely. Two wins from nine races on a standard surface works out at 22% — roughly winning 1 in every 5 races — which stands well above the overall career figure of 1 win in every 10. When the ground is right, this horse becomes genuinely competitive rather than merely present.

Donagh Murphy has partnered Play Me for 12 of those 20 races, winning once together — a win rate of around 1 in 12, or just 8%. That is modest, but the sheer number of rides together suggests a settled working relationship, and Murphy was in the saddle for both wins. The pair raced just yesterday, keeping Play Me on a busy schedule that hints at a horse in good enough health to keep running.

At Class 5 level — the entry-level tier of British racing, where horses of modest ability compete most weeks — Play Me has won 1 from 11 races, which is about 9%. That is unremarkable on its own, but back-to-back placed runs and a win this week suggest the horse is hitting a rich vein of form right now. In short: a tough, consistent competitor who has found its feet, and one worth watching while the ground stays right.