Pray Tell

The most interesting thing about Pray Tell right now is the contrast between what it can do and what it has been doing. Its last win came at Cork in December 2024 — now 17 months ago — and the recent form makes for uncomfortable reading: a twelfth, a fifth, a second, an eleventh, a sixth, and most recently a fourth. That sequence suggests a horse that occasionally shows a flash of its best, like that second-place finish tucked in the middle, but has been unable to put it all together and get back to the winner's enclosure.

Where Pray Tell does come alive is on wet or muddy ground. Two wins from just 5 races in those conditions gives it a 40% win rate on soft or heavy ground — a remarkable number by any standard. In horse racing terms, that is not a preference, that is a superpower. Compare that to its overall record of winning 1 in every 6 races, and the message is clear: when the ground is soft and the rain has been falling, Pray Tell becomes a completely different animal.

John Shinnick has ridden Pray Tell in 10 of its 18 races, winning 2 of them — a win rate of 20%, which is well above the horse's overall average. That kind of familiarity between horse and jockey matters, and it is no coincidence that the partnership has delivered results. Pray Tell raced just yesterday and remains active, so the next chapter is still being written. Whether it can find the combination of soft ground, the right track, and its best form to end that 17-month winning drought is the question worth watching.