Emerald Army

The best version of Emerald Army tends to show up over seven furlongs to a mile. In 11 races at that distance, it has won twice — a win rate of roughly 1 in every 5.5 races, or 18%, which is meaningfully better than its overall record. That gap tells you something: stretch it out or shorten it up, and you lose what makes it tick. Get the trip right, and you have a genuinely competitive horse.

Ruth Carr trains from Stillington in North Yorkshire, and her yard has been in fine form — 63 winners sent out already this season, which speaks to an operation that knows how to place its horses in the right spots. Emerald Army races most often at Class 6 level, which is the bread-and-butter tier of British racing, and has won 3 of 19 races there, a win rate of about 1 in 6. Jockey Zak Wheatley has partnered the horse for the vast majority of its career — 19 of its 25 races — landing 2 of those, so the partnership is well established even if the wins have been hard to come by.

The most recent victory came at Catterick Bridge on 23 July 2025, and the horse hasn't won in its last six races since. That's not a crisis at this level — form fluctuates, and the recent run of a fourth and a fifth suggests it hasn't fallen off a cliff. But it has been nine months since the winner's enclosure, and the last six results (4-5-10-3-7-9) are a little uneven, mixing near-misses with some disappointing finishes. Emerald Army raced just yesterday, so it is clearly being kept busy, and with the right trip and a bit of luck in running, another win isn't out of the question — the ingredients are all still there.