Due Date

The trouble is that Due Date has not tasted victory since October 30th last year, a ten-month drought that has seen him produce a run of modest results. His last six races read as 4-2-6-7-7-12 — mostly mid-field finishes with nothing better than a second place. That is the reality of racing at this level: you can be useful one season and find yourself out of form the next, racing for places rather than wins. He came out just yesterday, finishing fourth, so the yard clearly believes there is still something left in the tank.

Rob Hornby, his most frequent partner, has ridden him 10 times for just the single victory — a win rate of 10 percent — which suggests the pair are not an especially potent combination. Yet Due Date earned his first career win at Chelmsford in January 2024 and has returned there with some success, his sole victory this calendar year coming at the same track last autumn. For a horse in the middle of his racing career, still ticking over in the races he is built for, that kind of consistency — even in drought — keeps the door open.