City Captain

The Pontefract story is the really striking one. Two wins from three visits to that track is the kind of record that makes you wonder whether the course was built specifically with this horse in mind. City Captain first got its head in front there in April 2025 and came back to win again in October. Bethell is clear on why: the horse has a knee action — it moves with a slightly unusual, almost exaggerated stride — that makes wet or muddy ground a genuine advantage rather than just a preference. On fast, dry ground, that action works against it. On soft ground, it thrives.

Bethell has been refreshingly candid about what City Captain needs. Speaking earlier in the season, she described the horse as a big, not particularly elegant mover and said she will not run it on anything quicker than soft or good-to-soft conditions. A rough race at Doncaster, where it picked up some interference and came home sore, ruled out a crack at the prestigious Ayr Gold Cup — a significant target that gives you a sense of how ambitiously the yard has been thinking about this horse. Jockey Danny Tudhope, after a win at Carlisle, told Racing TV the horse won cosily once it got the pace it needed to aim at, and hinted there is more improvement to come.

That hint feels credible. Bethell herself believes City Captain will be even better at five once it has fully grown into its frame. The yard has sent out 18 winners this season, so this is not a small operation hoping for one good thing — they know what they have, they are managing it carefully, and they are in no hurry. Recent form of 4-2-6-1-3-9 shows both the peaks and the limitations, but when conditions align, City Captain has a habit of being very hard to beat.