Shahbaz

The six-year-old is trained by Archie Watson at Upper Lambourn in Berkshire, a yard that has been in excellent form this season with 62 winners sent out — so the operation clearly knows how to get horses winning. The challenge with Shahbaz is that his most recent victory came at Newbury in August 2025, and the six races since then have produced nothing better than a second place. His recent sequence reads 9th, 10th, 8th, 2nd, 4th, 6th working backwards — a horse that has gradually crept back toward relevance after a rough patch but hasn't quite closed the deal.

When Shahbaz does threaten to win, it tends to happen over a mile and one or two furlongs — a specific middle distance that suits his style. He has won 1 from 9 races at that trip, which is roughly 1 in every 9 attempts, not spectacular but meaningfully better than his overall record, suggesting the distance genuinely suits him. He has spent most of his career competing at Class 4, one of the mid-level tiers in British racing, where he has won 2 from 16 races — again, about 1 in every 8 tries at that level.

His most regular partner in the saddle is William Cox, who has ridden him five times without a win between them. That is not necessarily a criticism of either — it may simply reflect that Shahbaz is at a point in his career where wins are hard-earned. He raced just yesterday, which makes him one of the more active horses in training right now. His career began with a win at Newmarket back in October 2022, and there have been two more victories since. He is not a headline act, but he is a genuine competitor who keeps turning up — and in racing, that counts for something.