Sly Man's Horses to Watch — Friday 24 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.
Dream's Ka
Harry Skelton is landing a third of his rides this month and Dan Skelton's yard is purring at 30% — when both signals fire together, the market tends to know about it. The money's already piling in with no drifters in sight, and at 2/1 this one's firmly on the list.
- Harry Skelton — 33% strike rate last 30d (18/54)
- Dan Skelton — 30% strike rate last 30d (18/61)
- Money coming — strict-majority steamer, no drifters
Ralph Beckett is firing at 23% over the last month and the market has already cottoned on — this one is a strict-majority steamer with no drifters in sight. SR 155 puts Blessed Voyager at the top of the card, and with Rossa Ryan in the irons, this is exactly the kind of short-priced favourite worth trusting.
- Ralph Beckett — 23% strike rate last 30d (23/99)
- Money coming — strict-majority steamer, no drifters
- SR 155 — top of the card
Joseph Patrick O'Brien is running at 25% over the last 30 days and has sent Alphonsus Liguori out as the hottest horse on the card with an SR of 101 — the market has noticed, with strict-majority money piling in and not a single drifter in sight. At 1/10 there is no value to discuss, but this one is on the watchlist for exactly the reason it deserves to be: everything is pointing the same direction.
- Joseph Patrick O'Brien — 25% strike rate last 30d (28/112)
- Money coming — strict-majority steamer, no drifters
- SR 101 — top of the card
Harry Skelton is winning one-in-three at the moment, and Dan Skelton's yard is matching that with 30% over 61 runs — when the operation is firing like this, you don't need to look much further. Sparkling Water tops the card on a 154 SR, and the Skelton combination makes this the most straightforward watch of the day.
- Harry Skelton — 33% strike rate last 30d (18/54)
- Dan Skelton — 30% strike rate last 30d (18/61)
- SR 154 — top of the card
Murphy's firing at 22% over the last 30 days and Chapple-Hyam's yard is running at 23% — both of them in form at the same time on the same horse is the angle here. The market's already cottoning on, money coming in with no drift to speak of, and at 5/2 there's still enough there to make it worth marking down.
- Oisin Murphy — 22% strike rate last 30d (27/121)
- Jane Chapple-Hyam — 23% strike rate last 30d (6/26)
- Money coming — strict-majority steamer, no drifters