Blake

The win rate sits at 22%, or roughly 1 in every 4.5 races — a healthy figure in itself — but the placing record is what really stands out. Finishing second or third is sometimes dismissed as nearly, but not quite, and yet doing it twelve times speaks to a horse that is almost always competitive, almost always in the conversation at the finish. The recent form makes that point emphatically: second, second, second, fifth, second, and then a win at Down Royal on 1 November 2025. Five placings from six runs, with the form reading like a horse knocking politely on the door until it finally kicked it down.

Blake's preferred distance is a mile and one furlong to a mile and two furlongs, and those two furlongs of range matter. At that trip, it has won 2 from 5 races — a 40% win rate, or 2 in every 5 — which is exceptional and suggests the yard knows exactly where this horse is at its very best. The first career win came at Sandown Park in May 2024, a track that rewards horses with a real turn of foot, and there have been two more wins since, including that Down Royal victory.

One puzzle worth noting: Blake has run four times at Class 2 level — among the top races in Britain and Ireland — and is yet to win at that grade. It has thrived at the level below, but the very best company has so far found it out. That does not diminish what has been a genuinely impressive career; it simply suggests there may be a ceiling, or perhaps just that the right Class 2 opportunity has not yet come along. Noel Meade's yard has sent out 37 winners this season alone, so this is a serious operation with serious horses. Blake raced just yesterday and is clearly in good form. Whatever comes next, this is a horse worth watching.