The Dragon King

What makes The Dragon King interesting is where he wins and how he does it. He is a Class 4 horse through and through, winning three of eight races at that level—a 38% win rate that shows he belongs in that company. Put him in anything tougher and he struggles. More telling still is his relationship with the ground: on fast, dry conditions, he has won 2 of his 6 races, a 33% win rate that suggests he is a very different horse when the going suits him. The soft or muddy ground does him no favours at all.

His moment of glory came at Newmarket on 5 October 2024, a top-level Class 2 race that made clear he could handle better company on his day. Cowell's post-race comments that day hint at a horse with real flair—a dramatic late charge under jockey William that had the trainer calculating bad news at halfway before the horse came "with that rattle" to steal it. That kind of acceleration is rare and valuable. Before that, he had won for the first time at Doncaster in May 2024, and Cowell has mentioned a two-year-old season that saw him win three times, including a significant sale race. The Dragon King has the pedigree of a horse that should be doing better than his recent form suggests, and on the right ground at the right level, he might yet deliver.