Desert Cop

His career arc is worth following. He first won at Kempton Park in February 2023, then added a Class 2 at Newcastle on the all-weather track in April that year, and rounded off his wins with another Class 2 at Newmarket in May 2024. That Newmarket win is the one that stands out — Newmarket is a flat, unforgiving track where horses have nowhere to hide, and winning there at a high level means something. Murphy noted that Desert Cop is the type to improve with age, which at six still has some credibility. But that win is now over two years ago, and his last six results — finishing 14th, 3rd, 7th, 6th, 23rd, and 24th — paint the picture of a horse who has gone quiet.

What adds colour is what happened in between. Trainer George Baker took him to Bahrain over the winter, where Desert Cop ran in two turf series races and finished second in both. He was so close to being crowned champion sprinter in Bahrain that the margin of missing out must have stung. Then, in a decision that tells you something about the confidence Baker had in him, he skipped a planned race when the horse looked so well on the Friday morning that they entered him in a Grade 1 instead — and he won it. That kind of instinct from the yard, and that kind of response from the horse, is not nothing.

Baker's operation at Epsom Downs has been in decent form this season with 14 winners, and Murphy, who has won 2 of his 8 rides on Desert Cop — a rate of 1 in 4 — remains the go-to partner. The combination has worked before. The question is simply whether it can work again, and soon, because a horse this capable has been quiet for long enough.