Shallow River

The two Class 2 wins on his record — one of the top tiers of racing in Britain — tell you this is not a horse who has spent his career hiding in easy company. He won at Exeter in February 2024, then backed it up at Carlisle in December of the same year. Both performances came at the highest level he regularly faces, and he delivered. At his preferred trip of between a mile and six furlongs and two miles, the numbers get even more impressive: 2 wins from just 5 races, a 40% win rate. Find Shallow River at the right distance, on a wet day, in a quality race, and you have a horse at close to his ceiling.

Trainer Olly Murphy has had a tremendous season — 146 winners from his Warwickshire yard, which is the output of a training operation firing on all cylinders. That context matters, because it means Shallow River is competing for attention and entries in a busy, successful string. The fact that he keeps appearing in Class 2 company says the team still believes in what he can do.

The jockey picture is interesting. Bradley Harris has ridden him eight times and won just once together — 1 in 8, or 12% — which is noticeably below the horse's overall win rate. That one partnership win, though, came in the Carlisle Class 2, so when it clicks, it really clicks.

Recent form reads 6-1-8-7-1-3, which is the pattern of a horse who blows hot and cold — capable of finishing eighth one day and winning the next. He raced just yesterday, which means he is very much in active campaigning. At ten years old and with a Class 2 winner in the last two seasons, Shallow River is proving there is still plenty left in the tank.