Dashing Donkey

The best version of Dashing Donkey shows up on slightly wet ground. In five races on that kind of surface, it has won twice — a 40% win rate, or 2 from 5 — which is a striking number. That is not a coincidence; that is a horse that genuinely moves better when the ground has a bit of give in it. At Great Yarmouth specifically, it has two wins from seven races. Seven visits to the same track is a meaningful sample, and coming away with two victories there marks it out as a genuine course specialist. Its very first win came at Yarmouth on 12 June 2024, and the track has clearly suited ever since.

The preferred trip of 1 mile 1 furlong to 1 mile 2 furlongs also tells a clear story. Three wins from ten races at that distance — 30%, or nearly 1 in 3 — makes it easily the most productive range in its career. When the trip, the track, and the ground all align, Dashing Donkey becomes a horse worth taking seriously.

That said, there are some puzzles. Kieran Shoemark, who has ridden it more than any other jockey, has yet to win on it across five attempts together. Last won at Newmarket on 1 August 2025 — eight months ago now — and recent form shows a 12th, a 5th, and a 10th in its last three outings. It raced just yesterday, so it is clearly in an active campaign, but the sharp end of things has been elusive lately. Trainer William Stone, based in West Wickham in Cambridgeshire, has sent out ten winners this season from what is clearly a small but busy yard.

Dashing Donkey is not a horse that is going to trouble the big prizes. But catch it on the right day, at the right track, in the wet — and it has a habit of making believers out of people.