Popeye Doyle

Both of those wins came in the summer of 2025, first at Wolverhampton in July and then at Kempton Park in August, and they point to something useful: Popeye Doyle genuinely knows what to do when the distance is right. At one mile one furlong to one mile two furlongs, the horse has won 2 of its 7 races — that is 29%, or close to 1 in every 3 outings. In racing terms, finding a distance that suits a horse is half the battle, and this one has clearly found its sweet spot. Push it shorter or longer, and the record gets thinner.

The training operation behind the horse is a small yard in Kirklevington, North Yorkshire, run by Jessica Bedi. With just two winners sent out so far this season, this is not a large or especially high-profile stable — which makes each winner mean a little more. Popeye Doyle is one of the horses keeping the yard ticking over.

The honest part of the picture is that it has been a while. That Kempton win came in August 2025, and the six races since have brought a second place and little else — a sequence that reads 7-9-2-11-6-3, working backwards from the most recent. The horse raced just yesterday, so it is firmly active, but the wins feel like they belong to a more productive chapter. At Class 5, the level where Popeye Doyle competes most often, it has won 1 race from 4 — one in four, or 25% — which is perfectly respectable at that tier. The question, as it always is with horses in a little losing run, is whether the right race on the right day can bring that summer form back to the surface.