Blackjack

What gives his record a little texture is his relationship with Newcastle. That's where he landed his first career win back in November 2021, and it's where he won most recently too — on Valentine's Day 2025. Whether that's coincidence or genuine affinity with the track is hard to say, but it's a thread worth noticing. That last win came 17 months ago now, and his last six races have produced finishes of 9th, 11th, 7th, 5th, 6th, and 3rd — a slide that suggests he's currently in a lean spell rather than the kind of form that has him troubling the judge.

He is trained by Alan Brown at Yedingham in North Yorkshire, a yard that has sent out 10 winners already this season, so the operation around him is clearly functioning. His most regular partner in the saddle is Dale Swift, who has ridden him 12 times for a single win together — winning roughly 1 in every 12 rides, which is on the modest side. Blackjack raced just yesterday, so he is very much still in active service at nine years old, which in itself says something about his durability even if the wins have dried up of late.

He is not a horse who has scaled great heights or earned eye-catching prize money, but longevity and consistency at this level demands respect. The question now is whether a return to Newcastle — his happy hunting ground — might coax one more win out of him, or whether the current run of outs reflects the reality of a horse entering the later stages of a well-travelled career.