Bad

Those Kempton victories are not small-time results either. Both the February and March 2025 wins came at Class 2 level, which means Bad was beating good horses in quality races. Trained by Ben Pauling out of Naunton in Gloucestershire — a yard that has sent out 89 winners this season alone — Bad is competing at a level where every race is genuinely competitive. Winning twice in quick succession at that grade, at the same track, tells you this is a horse who turns up when it counts.

The jockey partnership with Ben Jones has been key to unlocking that form. Jones has been aboard for 16 of Bad's 22 races and accounts for all three of his wins — a win rate of 19%, or roughly 1 in every 5 rides together. That is a meaningful number in a sport where the right combination of horse and rider can make the difference between a place and a winner's enclosure. After the most recent Kempton victory, Jones described a tense finish — racing clear from the front, holding his nerve jumping the last, not quite sure his horse wanted it until Bad produced a big leap that settled the matter. "It was do or die at the last," he said. That is the kind of ride that sticks in the memory.

Trainer Ben Pauling has also noticed a shift in the horse's attitude. When Bad reappeared earlier this season, Pauling removed the headgear and was relaxed about the result — he just wanted him race-fit ahead of a bigger target. But Bad ran well anyway, and Pauling commented that he is showing a more willing side to himself these days. For a seven-year-old who took until February 2025 to register his first career win, that development in character is arguably the most interesting thing about him. Some horses find themselves late. Bad, it seems, has found Kempton — and that might just be enough.