War Hawk

War Hawk broke through on 1 April 2025 at Lingfield Park before going on to land a Class 2 race at Epsom Downs on 7 June — a significant scalp in the calendar. That Epsom win now sits 15 months in the past, and the horse has not won in its last 6 races, most recently finishing sixth, then fifth, then fifth again before a break, then third and fourth. The pattern is one of a horse hovering just outside the frame, competitive but not quite sharp enough to win.

Simon & Ed Crisford's Newmarket yard is one of the season's powerhouses with 78 winners to date, so War Hawk is in thoughtful hands. The trainer will know exactly what this horse is capable of and where its strengths lie. At Class 5, War Hawk has won 1 of 5 races — respectable form at that level but hardly dominant. The real window of opportunity comes when the yard can get it back to the 1m3f–1m4f sweet spot, ideally over ground that suits and in a race the horse is ready to win. With a race only yesterday, War Hawk remains active. It is a horse worth following, not for consistency but for the moments when all the pieces — the distance, the ground, the field — align just right.