Rey de La Batalla

Lingfield Park is clearly Rey De La Batalla's happy hunting ground. He has won twice there from fifteen runs, a win rate of roughly 1 in 7, which is well above his career average of 1 in 10. Normal ground appears to suit him too — he has won twice from thirteen races on standard conditions, again outperforming his overall record. In the Class 4 races where he typically competes, a level designed for horses of honest but unglamorous ability, he has won twice from twenty attempts. Paddy Bradley, his regular pilot, has ridden him eighteen times for just the one win, a modest return that reflects how tough it is to get this horse to the line first. Trained by Simon Dow's Epsom yard, which has sent out fourteen winners this season, Rey De La Batalla remains an active prospect as of very recently, still turning up to race and still capable of a frame finish when things align. He is a horse for patient owners and a jockey who knows him well — the kind of reliable middle-distance runner who may not make headlines but keeps showing up.