Yakhabar

Liam Bailey trains Yakhabar from his yard in Middleham, North Yorkshire — a town with a long history of producing competitive racehorses. Bailey has sent out 18 winners already this season, so this is not a small operation running on hope. The horse's most regular partner in the saddle is Billy Garritty, and the two of them have struck up a productive relationship — 2 wins from 13 races together, a win rate of around 15%, which is meaningfully better than Yakhabar's overall average and suggests Garritty knows how to get the best out of this particular animal.

The distance matters with Yakhabar. Drop it into a shorter race and the numbers tell you to look elsewhere. But stretch it out to between a mile and six furlongs and two miles, and suddenly this is a horse with 4 wins from 24 races at those trips — winning roughly 1 in every 6 at its preferred range. That is a genuine strength, not a coincidence. Most of its racing has come at the lower end of the competition ladder, the kind of races designed to give horses a fair chance of winning, and Yakhabar has made the most of it with 3 of its 4 wins coming at that level.

Newcastle is where Yakhabar first announced itself, with its debut win there on 17 February 2024, and the track has remained a happy hunting ground — 2 wins from 13 visits, which is a remarkable level of familiarity with one course. Some horses simply suit certain tracks, whether it is the shape of the bends, the surface, or the way the race tends to unfold there. Whatever the reason, Newcastle and Yakhabar have form together.

The most recent win came at Southwell just seven weeks ago, on 14 March 2026, and with the horse back in action as recently as yesterday, it is clearly fit, active, and in the mix. Recent form of third, fourth, and a win in the last six runs suggests this is a horse operating close to its best right now.