Dalmally

The issue, in plain terms, is that Dalmally does not know how to race. He has natural speed — his trainer Mark Pattinson describes him as having a good cruising speed — but he burns through it too quickly. In his most recent run at Windsor, he hit the front a furlong and a half from home, which sounds promising until you realise he then ran out of energy and was caught. He had been pulling hard throughout, spending energy on fighting the jockey rather than saving it for the moment it matters. That pattern of keen early, tired late has been his undoing.

Pattinson, based at Epsom in Surrey, is clearly fond of the horse and believes settling is the missing piece. His yard has sent out 6 winners this season, so there is form in the yard. Dalmally's best distance is 7 furlongs to a mile, where he has won 1 from 4 races — a 25% win rate, which is actually a reasonable return and far better than his overall record implies. That suggests he is not short of ability at the right trip; he just needs to learn to use it at the right time.

He races almost exclusively at Class 5, the entry level for horses of his type, and has won just 1 of 11 races at that level. The fact that he is still competing in those races at age 4 tells you he has not yet shown enough to move up the ladder. But a horse that can hit the front at Windsor and whose trainer speaks warmly about his potential is not one to write off entirely. Whether he ever learns to settle is the whole question — and it is one that only time and race experience can answer.