Pop Favorite

At 9% overall — roughly 1 win in every 11 races — Pop Favorite is not the kind of horse that dominates wherever it goes. But context matters here. Strip away the races run elsewhere, and you have a horse with a genuinely tidy record at the venue that suits it. Scott Dixon's yard in Rolleston, Nottinghamshire, has sent out 33 winners this season, so this is an active and competent operation. They clearly know where Pop Favorite belongs.

The most common partnership in the saddle is with jockey Elisha Whittington, who has ridden the horse in 26 of its 79 races — a significant chunk of the career. Together they've won 3 of those 26, which works out at roughly 1 in every 9 rides. That's not a flashy number, but it's a working relationship built over time, and three of Pop Favorite's seven wins have come through it.

The recent form makes for sobering reading: ninth, eighth, ninth, fourth, fourth, fifth across the last six races, with no win in that run. That's a stretch of nearly over a year since the last victory, back in April 2025. At eight years old and competing almost exclusively at Class 6 — the entry-level tier of British racing — Pop Favorite is not a horse chasing glory at the top end of the sport. What it is, though, is a horse that races frequently, stays sound, and has carved out a specific niche for itself at one track in a way that very few horses manage. It raced just yesterday, which says something about its durability if nothing else.

Whether another Newcastle win is coming is the question. The record says it's possible. The recent form says it might take a while.