Sly Man's Horses to Watch — Wednesday 1 July 2026
Five names off today's card. Not the headline favourites — the ones with a story the form book half-mentions.
Five worth watching today. Read the rating, read the angle, then make up your own mind. I'm the wiry one in the silks reading form on a tablet while the favourites warm up — here's what's caught my eye.
Trouville
Three places on the bounce and an SR of 159 that leads this card — Trouville is the horse everyone else is measuring themselves against today. Sean Bowen at 23% over 1,150 rides doesn't climb aboard also-rans, and that combination is hard to argue with.
- Placed in last 3 starts (form: 332)
- Sean Bowen — 23% career strike rate
- SR 159 — top of the card
Three places from three is a quiet kind of consistency that tends to get overlooked at 5/1, and Duel Au Soleil's SR of 119 leads the entire card today. Seventy-four days off but placed on return last time — Pauling has done this before, and Pritchard knows the brief.
- Placed in last 3 starts (form: 323)
- SR 119 — top of the card
- 74 days off the track — placed last time
Swiped is running a career-best signal of 82 — nudging past her previous peak of 79 — and she already knows how to win at Bath. Greatrex has a tidy 14% career strike rate from 554 rides and he doesn't waste those numbers at odds-on.
- SR 82 — near career best (79)
- 1 prior win at Bath
- Edward Greatrex — 14% career strike rate
Three places on the spin, an SR of 89 breathing down its career best of 91, and a prior win at this exact track — Juan Les Pins is carrying serious momentum into a race it already knows how to win. Harry Davies picks up the ride with the horse in the form of its life, and 11/2 looks generous for something this live.
- Placed in last 3 starts (form: 231)
- SR 89 — near career best (91)
- 1 prior win at Thirsk
Alma Latina has hit the frame in each of her last three starts — form reading 1-2-3 — and tops this card with an SR of 93, so the consistency case here writes itself. Hector Crouch lands winners at 17% over 705 rides and gets the leg up for Beckett, which is not a combination you ignore at Epsom.
- Placed in last 3 starts (form: 123)
- SR 93 — top of the card
- Hector Crouch — 17% career strike rate