Benny Baloo

That one win came on Boxing Day 2023 at Market Rasen, and it remains the sole peak of his career. Thirty months have passed since then, and in his last six races he has not come close to repeating it — his finishes read 2nd, 5th, 5th, 8th, 4th, and 3rd working back from the most recent. There is something of a pattern there: he is placing, he is trying, but the winning feeling has not returned. At the level he typically competes at — the kind of everyday races that form the backbone of the British racing calendar — he has won 1 from 10, a 10% win rate. Decent enough company, but no dominant force within it.

He is trained by Mrs C Williams at Llancarfan in the Vale of Glamorgan, a small yard that has sent out three winners this season. His most regular partner in the saddle is Mr William Easterby, who has ridden him six times without finding the winner's enclosure together. That is not necessarily a damning stat — plenty of good partnerships simply need a change of luck — but it does reflect the general shape of Benny Baloo's career: consistent effort, elusive reward.

What keeps this interesting is that he raced just yesterday and is clearly still in active work. He is not a horse being nursed towards retirement; his team are still turning up and having a go. At nine years old, with a Boxing Day winner already on his record, Benny Baloo is the kind of horse that inspires quiet loyalty in anyone who has ever backed a stubborn underdog. Whether a second win is coming is anyone's guess, but he has not given his yard any reason to stop believing just yet.