Skukuza

The most significant chapter in that story is Royal Ascot 2024. Skukuza finished second in the Britannia, one of the most competitive races of the entire Royal Ascot meeting, run over a mile on the biggest stage British racing has to offer. That was the kind of performance that marks a horse out as genuinely useful. Then came the injury that wiped out the rest of his season. A year on the sidelines is a long time in racing, and it meant a horse with a bright future spent 2024 mostly standing in a stable rather than building on his breakthrough.

He came back this year, running at Haydock over seven furlongs after a full year off. Dunlop described the team as pleased with a fifth-place finish — which might sound like spin, but makes sense when you consider what the horse was really doing: getting his legs under him again. Within weeks, Skukuza had travelled to The Curragh and won impressively on a wet, rain-softened track in late June 2025. The winning margin was convincing enough that his handler on the day suggested the further the race went, the further he would have won. That is high praise. Dunlop himself called him smart and noted, with obvious feeling, that things simply hadn't gone right for this horse.

His numbers point to a few clear strengths. On normal ground he has won 3 of his 8 races — 38%, which is an excellent return — and over distances of around a mile and one or two furlongs he has won 3 of 9, or 1 in 3. Those are the conditions where he is at his best. The one gap on his record is at Class 2 level — the second tier of British racing — where he has run three times without a win. That gap might be what the summer is about to fill. Dunlop has mentioned the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot as a target, which would be a meaningful attempt to close it. It would also, neatly, bring him back to the scene of his near-miss two years ago.