Al Nayyir

The most eye-catching number is what happens when you put him on the dirt at Meydan in Dubai. He has won 4 of his 12 races there — that is 1 in every 3, at a track that attracts some of the best horses in the world. His first career win came at Meydan in November 2022, and his most recent win came there too, in February this year. Some horses are simply built for a particular place, and Meydan appears to be his.

But he is no one-trick pony. In September 2024 he won a Class 1 race at Newmarket — one of the top races in Britain, at one of the sport's most famous venues. His trainer Tom Clover was visibly delighted afterwards, describing him as "a very exciting stayer" and admitting he was already eyeing Champions Day, the biggest end-of-season occasion on the British racing calendar, while hoping to sidestep the reigning champion stayer Kyprios if possible. That kind of talk tells you exactly what level this horse operates at.

Over distances of a mile and three to a mile and four furlongs, he has won 2 of his 3 races — a remarkable 67% — which suggests that getting the trip right is key to seeing him at his best. He is trained at Newmarket by Tom Clover, whose yard has sent out 23 winners this season alone. Clover has been candid about a slightly flat spell in Dubai earlier this year, where the race was run too slowly for Al Nayyir's style, but says he has come to hand nicely since and is pointing him at a Group 3 at Sandown over two miles. His recent form of two wins and three placed runs from his last five races — with only one poor result in the mix — suggests he is rounding back into form at just the right time.