Trojan Soldier

Jedd O'Keeffe trains him out of Coverham in North Yorkshire, a yard that has sent out 18 winners already this season and clearly knows how to place a horse to best effect. It was at Southwell in early April that the penny first dropped for Trojan Soldier, and since then he has not looked back, adding another win at Pontefract just this week. Getting a horse to win once is an achievement. Getting the same horse to win three in a row suggests that something — the distance, the conditions, the confidence — has clicked into place.

That distance point is worth dwelling on. Over two miles or more, Trojan Soldier has won 2 of his 3 races — that is a two-in-three record, which is exceptional. Horses that stay long distances well are a specific type, built for stamina rather than speed, and when they find their groove they can be remarkably consistent. The numbers here suggest he is very much in his groove.

The one puzzle in all of this is his record at the class of races he typically competes in. At Class 5 level — the bread-and-butter level of British racing, one step from the bottom — he has run 6 times without a win. Yet he has three career wins to his name, which means all of them have come at a different level entirely. His regular rider Jack Garritty has won just 1 of their 5 races together, a 20% win rate, so the current streak appears to have come with someone else in the saddle. At four years old, with form this sharp and a trainer in fine fettle, Trojan Soldier is a horse catching the eye at exactly the right moment.