Now three years old and still developing, Sahara King is trained by Richard Hannon at his yard in Herridge, Wiltshire. Hannon is not a trainer you associate with also-rans — his team has sent out 118 winners already this season, which is a remarkable volume of success and a sign of an operation firing on all cylinders. A horse does not land in a yard like that by accident.
His recent form reads 2-2-5-1 — that is a fifth and then three consecutive placed efforts going backwards through the season. The fifth came on reappearance after a winter break, and Richard Hannon was relaxed about it, pointing out that the race looked a strong one and that Sahara King had worked beautifully before it at Newbury. "He's got loads of ability and will come on plenty for that experience," was the message from the yard — the kind of thing trainers say all the time, but it carries more weight when the horse in question was a winner first time out and has placed in the races either side of that fifth. Since that reappearance run, he has gone back to posting two consecutive runner-up finishes, which suggests the seasonal rust has well and truly worn off.
He raced just one day ago, so this is a horse right in the middle of his campaign, fit and active and building toward something. With a trainer in that kind of form behind him and the natural improvement that comes with being a young horse finding his feet across a full season, Sahara King looks like exactly the sort of horse worth keeping an eye on over the weeks ahead.
| Course | Races | Results | Last visited | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newbury Galloping |
2 | 1 second, 1 other | 16 May | 0% |
| Wolverhampton Galloping |
1 | 1 win | 8 Nov | 100% |
| Newmarket Galloping |
1 | 1 second | 3 May | 0% |