Daly's yard has sent out 17 winners already this season, so he knows what a horse needs to progress, and his read on Stung By Tariffs is that this is simply a horse still finding its feet. He has described him as a backward sort — a typical homebred who is taking time to learn the game — and crucially, he believes the horse wants more than two miles to really show what he can do. That is worth keeping in mind. Some horses need longer to warm up, both within a race and across a whole career, and if the distance has been slightly short of ideal throughout, that one third place starts to look more meaningful than the bare numbers suggest.
The most recent run, 48 days ago, produced that third-place finish at Southwell, which Daly described as a genuinely encouraging effort. Before that, he was caught on wet, muddy ground at Exeter — conditions that clearly did not suit him — and his first run over hurdles at Carlisle came against a winner called Mydaddypaddy, which turned out to be a tougher race than it looked from the outside. Daly openly admitted he misjudged the level of that contest, which at least shows a trainer being honest rather than making excuses.
The short break since Southwell suggests the team is giving him time to strengthen and mature rather than rushing him back. At five, with only five races behind him and a trainer who clearly still believes in what he has, Stung By Tariffs is very much a horse in progress. He has not won yet, but the story is not over — and if Daly is right about the distance, a step up might be all it takes to change the picture entirely.
| Course | Races | Results | Last run | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlisle Undulating |
1 | 1 other | 10 Nov | 0% |
| Exeter Undulating |
1 | 1 other | 18 Dec | 0% |
| Haydock Park Galloping |
1 | 1 other | 5 Mar | 0% |
| Worcester Galloping |
1 | 1 other | 13 May | 0% |
| Southwell Galloping |
1 | 1 third | 2 Feb | 0% |