Dallas Star

The key to Dallas Star appears to be distance. At a mile and three to a mile and four furlongs, he has won 2 of his 5 races — that is a 40% win rate, which is a genuinely impressive hit rate at any level. For context, most horses at that kind of frequency would be considered specialists at a trip, and trainer Robson De Aguiar is now thinking bigger still. Speaking recently, he said the plan is to have a crack at the Queen Alexandra at Royal Ascot — a race run over almost two and a half miles, further than Dallas Star has ever gone. It is an ambitious target, but De Aguiar's yard has sent out 11 winners this season, so this is not a team short of confidence.

The current form is a little mixed. Dallas Star has not won in his last six races, with his most recent victory coming at Dundalk in February 2025 — about 15 months ago. His recent runs do show a horse in and around the placings, with three runner-up finishes in his last six outings, so the ability is still there. He raced just yesterday, which tells you he is fit and active heading into what looks like an important summer campaign.

There is a thread of long-term belief running through this horse's story. When he won at Bath back in October 2023 on what was then fast, dry ground, his trainer at the time described him as a big, raw type who had taken time to develop and flagged him as a future Ebor horse — meaning a top staying handicap at York. That instinct about him being a stayer has never gone away, and it now shapes everything about how he is being campaigned. Whether he gets the trip over two and a half miles remains to be seen, but the people who know Dallas Star best have been saying for over a year that the further he goes, the better he will be.