Desert Friend

Over a long career spanning 54 races, Desert Friend has won 5 times and finished in the places on another 14 occasions. That works out at roughly 1 win in every 11 races across the board, which is a modest overall return — but the recent form tells a sharply different story. Two wins from the last 6 races is a serious upturn in fortunes, and with the sequence reading 1-9-3-1-11-9 (most recent first), there's clearly something clicking at the moment. The fact that those two wins are sandwiched around a third place suggests this horse is running with real purpose right now rather than just filling out a field.

The horse is trained by P J F Murphy, based out of Castlecomer in County Kilkenny. The yard has sent out 4 winners already this season, and Desert Friend's Sligo success this week is part of that tally. Murphy has clearly found a rhythm with this horse at a point in its career when plenty of ten-year-olds have already been put out to grass. That in itself is worth noting — keeping a horse competitive and winning at this age takes careful management and no small amount of skill.

Ben Coen is the jockey most associated with Desert Friend, the pair having teamed up 8 times together. Coen has ridden 1 winner from those 8 rides, a win rate of 12%, or roughly 1 in every 8 races — which actually sits above the horse's career average. It's a working partnership rather than a celebrated one, but it has produced results.

The first career win came at Listowel back in June 2022, and the most recent at Sligo just days ago. Nearly four years between that first breakthrough and the current winning run is a decent chunk of a horse's life, and the fact that Desert Friend is still finding the winner's enclosure at ten years old makes this a genuinely likeable story. Not every horse at this stage of the game is still turning up, racing hard, and winning.