Fringill Dike

Across 31 races in total, Fringill Dike has won 8 and placed a further 14 times, which works out at winning roughly 1 in every 4 races — a solid record for a nine-year-old competing mainly at Class 2 level, which means one of the top tiers of British racing. That is not easy company to win in, and two victories at that level in 2024 — at Bangor-on-Dee in May and Newton Abbot in August — showed the horse was still capable of landing a proper prize at its peak.

The conditions matter too. On slightly soft, damp ground, Fringill Dike has won 4 times from 10 races, a 40% win rate that dwarfs its overall average. That is nearly 1 in every 2 races when the ground plays into its hands — a statistic that any punter would want to know before a wet day at the races.

The jockey partnership with Charlie Hammond also jumps out. In seven races together, Hammond has steered this horse to four wins — that is winning more than half the time they have been paired, which is a remarkable number by any standard and suggests the combination just clicks.

The honest caveat is that Fringill Dike has not won in its last six races, with its most recent victory now 21 months ago. At nine years old, those gaps between wins begin to matter. O'Keeffe's yard has been in excellent form this season — 18 winners sent out — and Fringill Dike raced just yesterday, so it is clearly still being kept active and competitive. Whether the horse can rediscover that winning thread, particularly on a soft day at a track it fancies, remains the question worth watching.