Fast Steps

They managed it. Now eight years old and still racing, Fast Steps has won 3 times from 41 races — roughly 1 in every 14 outings across his career — which is modest on paper, but the three wins represent something real: proof that the ability was always there, it just needed careful handling to unlock. His most recent victory came at Newbury in July 2024, and the trainer's son Patrick Millman, who rides him regularly and knows his quirks better than most, has been central to getting the best from him. Together they have won 1 from 11 races — about 1 in 11 — and those numbers tell only part of the story.

The ground matters to Fast Steps. On fast, dry ground he has won 2 of 13 races — roughly 1 in 6 — a noticeably better record than his overall average, and the team have been open about the fact that better ground suits him. He has come back this season after a break and finished third at Windsor last week, which his trainer considered a genuinely good run. At Class 4 level — the bread and butter of the British racing calendar, a step or two below the top races — he has won 2 from 24 races, about 1 in 12, and that is the competitive bracket he tends to operate in.

The yard behind him is in good form regardless. B R Millman, based in Kentisbeare, Devon, has sent out 42 winners already this season, which shows this is not a small outfit filling the card — these are people who know what they are doing. Fast Steps may not be a world beater, as his racing manager once honestly put it, but he is still here, still placing, still running well enough to suggest the next win is not entirely out of reach. For owner Eric Gadsden, that consistency has been its own reward.