The Craftymaster

Two wins from its last six races, including a victory at Lingfield Park just this week, tells you this is a horse in form right now. That recent sequence — a win, then a blip, then a near-miss fifth, then another win — has the shape of a horse that goes in and out of top gear but keeps delivering when it matters. Jockey William Carson knows that rhythm better than anyone. The pair have raced together 27 times and won 8 of them, a win rate of 30%, or almost 1 in every 3 rides. In racing terms, that is a proper partnership. When you see Carson's name in the saddle, you take notice.

The place to really watch The Craftymaster, though, is Wolverhampton. Three wins from just 7 races there — a remarkable 43%, or nearly 1 in every 2 visits — makes it something close to a course specialist. That track, with its tight turns and all-weather surface, clearly suits this horse in a way that others simply don't. It was also where it all began: a first career win there on 16 December 2023 that presumably gave trainer Tony Carroll a good idea of what he had on his hands.

Carroll's yard at Cropthorne in Worcestershire has been flying this season — 134 winners sent out already, which is the kind of number that tells you this is a well-run operation that knows how to place its horses. Most of The Craftymaster's races have come at Class 5, which is the everyday bread-and-butter level of the sport. Three wins from 14 races at that level — 21%, or roughly 1 in 5 — is solid rather than spectacular, but the horse has clearly found ways to win at higher grades too, and that consistency across different types of race is what makes the overall record of 9 wins and 15 places from 39 races so impressive.

Active and in form, this is a horse worth keeping an eye on.