Iftikhaar

That sole career victory came at Chelmsford on 11 September 2025, and it's worth noting it came at a distance of 1 mile 1 to 2 furlongs — the range where Iftikhaar has always looked most comfortable. Across 11 races at that trip, the Chelmsford win is the only one, but 1 from 11 is actually a better record than the horse manages everywhere else, which tells you something about where its best chance of a repeat lies. Chelmsford, artificial surface, that middle-distance trip — that's the combination to keep an eye on.

The yard behind Iftikhaar is J R Jenkins, based in Royston, Hertfordshire. It's a small operation that has sent out 8 winners this season, so they're not without their moments. Most of Iftikhaar's races in the saddle have been handled by Daniel Muscutt, who has partnered the horse 6 times without a win between them — though it would be unfair to read too much into that, given the horse's overall record. Class 6 is where Iftikhaar competes almost exclusively — these are the most entry-level races in Britain — and even there, 1 win from 31 races at that level is a hard number to dress up.

The recent form doesn't encourage much optimism either: in the last 6 races, the best result has been a runner-up finish, with a pulled-up run and a 13th place also in the mix. Eight months have now passed since that Chelmsford breakthrough. But with Iftikhaar still racing yesterday and the team clearly committed to finding another opening, it would be rash to completely write off a horse that has already surprised everyone once.