An Outlaw's Grace

What happened next is the kind of story racing throws up more often than it should. He lost his way. In 14 career races he has only that single win to show, with four places alongside it — a win rate of roughly 1 in every 14 races, or 7%. The last six runs have produced a sequence of 7th, 6th, 2nd, 19th, 3rd, and 5th, which tells a story of a horse that keeps threatening without delivering. That sole victory now sits 25 months in the past.

When he steps up to Class 2 level — the better races, a step below the very top — he has gone winless in all four attempts. That is not necessarily a surprise given he has barely been winning at any level, but it does raise the question of whether this is a horse still finding his feet or one who has quietly settled into the role of nearly-horse.

Trainer Richard Hannon, whose yard at Herridge has sent out 118 winners this season alone, still believes. He described An Outlaw's Grace as a talented horse who is working well and looking great, and said he expects him to be winning races again. That is not the language of a trainer managing expectations — that is genuine optimism. Jockey Sean Levey, who has ridden him in six of his 14 races and won on the horse once, gets credit too. After that Salisbury debut, a director of racing for the owners singled out Levey's patient, unhurried ride as the kind of handling a young horse needs to learn and grow.

The ingredients are still there — a top trainer, a trusted jockey, and a horse with a résumé that includes a run at one of France's biggest juvenile races. Whether An Outlaw's Grace can rediscover what he showed that afternoon at Salisbury is the only question left to answer.