Wolf Of Badenoch

That solitary win came at Doncaster in June 2024, nearly two years ago now, and the then-trainer Hugo Palmer was visibly excited afterwards. His jockey Jamie Spencer reported that the horse had put in a long, sustained run while still being, as Palmer put it, "quite babyish" — meaning there was clearly more to come. The trouble is, that more has been a long time arriving. Six races since that win have produced nothing better than a third place, and at the very top level — Class 1 and 2 races, among the best in Britain — Wolf Of Badenoch has drawn a blank in four attempts.

What is interesting is that the horse has now moved to a new yard: Tony Culhane and Stella Barclay, based in Garstang in Lancashire, a small but productive operation that has sent out six winners already this season. When Culhane took stock of him earlier this spring he noticed real physical change — the horse had filled out over the winter and grown noticeably. That transformation has prompted a shift in thinking. The yard no longer sees him as a top-level Group horse but as a horse who could thrive in races more suited to his actual ability. He has been gelded, which often settles and improves horses, and the plan is to aim for the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot — a prestigious race, but one aimed at exactly this type: talented horses who need to find their right level.

Jamie Spencer, who has ridden him in 6 of his 17 races and won once at a 17% win rate with him — winning roughly 1 in every 6 times they have teamed up — noted after one run at Goodwood that the horse needed coaching through the early part of the race but then produced something genuinely impressive in the closing stages. The ability is clearly there. The question is whether the combination of physical maturity, gelding, and a smarter race plan will finally unlock it. With a race as recently as yesterday, the answer may not be far away.