Fantastic Fox

The headline stat is brutal. Fantastic Fox has spent most of its career running in Class 2 races, which are among the top contests in Britain, and has come away without a single win from 25 attempts at that level. Zero from 25. That is not bad luck — that is a horse that has found its natural ceiling and keeps pressing against it. To be fair, simply making it onto the track at that level 25 times says something about the horse's quality. But the wins have not come.

When conditions have suited, though, there have been glimpses of what Fantastic Fox can do. All three career wins have come on normal ground, and on that surface the record reads 3 wins from 13 races — a win rate of 23%, or roughly 1 in every 4 races. That is a genuinely different horse to the one that goes winless at the top level. The last win came at Lingfield Park in January 2024, which is now 29 months ago, and recent form offers little encouragement — the last six runs have returned finishes of 4th, 15th, 5th, 7th, 10th, and 11th, in that order from oldest to most recent.

Jockey Aidan Keeley has been on board for 11 of those races and the pair have won twice together, a win rate of 18% — close to 1 in every 5 rides, which is actually a strong return and notably better than the horse's overall record. The partnership has clearly clicked on occasion, even if those occasions feel like a while ago now.

Roger Varian is one of Britain's most respected trainers — his yard has sent out 87 winners already this season — so Fantastic Fox is in the best possible hands. The horse raced just yesterday, which means the yard are keeping it active and hopeful. At 8 years old, another win is still possible, particularly on a quick surface at a lower level. But the clock, and the form book, are not really on its side.