Snipe

The ground is the key to understanding Snipe. On wet or muddy ground he has won 2 of just 3 races (67%), which is a remarkable conversion rate and suggests he transforms into a different animal when conditions turn testing. On slightly soft ground the picture is almost as good — 3 wins from 11 races, or just over 1 in 4. When the rain comes, Snipe becomes genuinely dangerous. His recent form backs this up: two wins from his last six races, finishing 1st, then 4th, then 1st, then 6th, and a 2nd most recently. That is the profile of a horse in decent nick, not one going through the motions.

He has been with Dan Skelton's yard at Alcester throughout, and it is worth understanding what kind of operation that is. Skelton's team has sent out 194 winners this season alone — that is not a small stable trying to get lucky, that is one of the most powerful training yards in Britain. Harry Skelton, Dan's brother, has ridden Snipe 14 times and won 3 of them — winning at a rate of roughly 1 in every 5 rides on him, which is a strong partnership. Dan Skelton has spoken publicly about Snipe being capable of marathon distances and described him as "going the right way," which from a trainer of his calibre is a meaningful signal rather than idle optimism.

The horse's most recent win came at Leicester in March 2026, and he raced again just yesterday, so this is a horse very much in the thick of things. Jockey Dominic Lewis, who rode him at Hereford, described the winning moment vividly — Snipe closing with every fence he jumped, flying the last, and galloping all the way to the line. That kind of tenacity in a nine-year-old is not something you take for granted. Plenty of horses this age are winding down. Snipe, on current evidence, is still finding out what he can do.