Brother Boris

Fakenham is the key to understanding this horse. It is a small, tight, undulating track in Norfolk — quirky enough that plenty of horses simply never get the hang of it. Brother Boris has been there six times and won twice, which is a remarkable hit rate for a horse at this level. Both wins have come in 2026, the most recent just four weeks ago on 13 March, meaning he goes to the track a fresh and current winner there. First-time visitors to racing often underestimate how much a specific course can suit a horse — the bends, the gradients, the ground — and Fakenham appears to bring out something in Brother Boris that other tracks simply do not.

His recent form bears this out. Reading his last six races from most recent backwards — a non-finish, then a win, a win, a third, a seventh, and a third — you can see a horse that had a rough patch in the middle of that sequence before rediscovering his best. Winning 2 of his last 6 races is a serious upturn from a horse whose overall record stands at 2 from 14. Something has clicked.

He is trained by Lucy Wadham, whose yard in Newmarket has sent out 18 winners already this season — a healthy tally that suggests the operation is in fine form. Tom Cannon rides him most regularly, partnering Brother Boris in 7 of his 14 races with one win to show for it, and that partnership will matter if they return to Fakenham. Brother Boris raced just yesterday, so the yard will have an eye on recovery before planning what comes next.

Most of his races have been at Class 5, the bread-and-butter tier of jump racing, and winning just 1 of 9 at that level tells you he is no certainty anywhere other than his favourite track. But that is also what makes him interesting — a horse who knows exactly where he belongs, and keeps proving it.