Cruden

Those four runner-up finishes in his last six tell an interesting story. Getting beaten repeatedly while still finishing second is not the same as being out of form — it means Cruden keeps turning up, keeps putting himself in contention, and keeps falling just short. That can be maddening to watch, but it also means the winning performance is probably closer than it looks.

His current level of racing — Class 4, which sits in the middle tier of the sport — has been a particular sticking point. He has run six times at that level and has not won once. His two career wins both came at a lower grade, which suggests he may need to drop back down to find the easier opportunity he needs to get his head in front again.

Trainer Dan Horsford, who operates out of Marlborough in Wiltshire, has sent out six winners this season, so the yard is in decent form. When Cruden landed his first win at Limerick back in May 2024, assistant trainer Kate Harrington described him as a big horse still learning his trade — one who did not quite know what to do when the race opened up, but gritted it out to the line anyway. That kind of raw determination, allied to a horse still physically developing at the time, is the sort of thing trainers build on.

He raced just yesterday, so he is clearly fit and in active training. With a horse who has been placed this consistently, the frustrating reality is that the gap between second and first is often paper-thin. Cruden has shown more than enough to suggest a win is in him — he just needs the right race at the right level to make it happen.