Old Cock

The numbers tell a genuinely impressive story. Old Cock has won 4 of his 12 races — roughly 1 in every 3 — which is an excellent rate at this level. But the really striking figure is what happens when conditions suit him: on fast, dry ground he has won 3 of his 6 races, exactly half. That is not a coincidence, it is a pattern, and Brittain knows it. York, with its wide, flat track and tendency to ride quick in summer, seems tailor-made for him. His first win came at Ayr in April 2024, but it is York where he has really announced himself.

Jockey Callum Rodriguez has been in the saddle for most of his career — 8 of his 12 races — and has won on him twice, giving them a 1-in-4 win rate together. That kind of familiarity matters. Brittain's yard at Warthill in North Yorkshire has been in excellent form this season, sending out 23 winners, so this is a horse being trained by a yard with its eye in.

What makes Old Cock genuinely interesting right now is the ambition attached to him. Brittain skipped Royal Ascot deliberately — he felt the Hunt Cup was the wrong race on the wrong track — and is instead pointing him at York's Sky Bet Mile at the Ebor meeting in August, one of the summer's most prestigious days. That is a significant target, and the trainer is clearly not thinking small. Recent form has been patchy, with a couple of disappointing finishes mixed in, but the yard's own explanation is that this horse does not take kindly to being rushed. Give him time, give him fast ground, and put him on a flat track — and he is a different animal entirely.