What makes that breakthrough particularly encouraging is where it came from. Guinness Lad is at his best when given a trip of a mile and three or four furlongs — enough distance to really get into a rhythm — and over those distances he has now won 1 from 7 races, a 14% win rate, or roughly 1 in every 7. That is not a horse who is hopeless at the job; that is a horse who was waiting for the right conditions to click.
His recent form tells a story of momentum. Six races back he was finishing seventh and eighth, well out of the picture. Then came a fifth, a second, and now a win. That is a horse trending sharply in the right direction, and with a race just yesterday, the team at Neil Mulholland's yard in Limpley Stoke are clearly keeping him busy while confidence is high. Mulholland himself is in fine form this season — 60 winners already — so Guinness Lad is in capable hands at exactly the right moment.
The one puzzle in the file is his record with regular jockey Millie Wonnacott. The pair have ridden together seven times without a win, and it was not Wonnacott who was aboard for the Windsor success. That is not a criticism of either — seven runs is a small sample and racing partnerships can take time — but it is something worth watching if the two are reunited in coming weeks. For now, Guinness Lad heads into his next race as a horse transformed: a winner at last, in form, and with a trainer firing on all cylinders behind him.
| Course | Races | Results | Last visited | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kempton Park Galloping |
5 | 5 other | 28 Jan | 0% |
| Wolverhampton Galloping |
4 | 4 other | 27 Dec | 0% |
| Windsor Sharp |
3 | 1 win, 2 seconds | 1 Jun | 33.3% |
| Leicester Sharp |
2 | 1 second, 1 other | 14 Oct | 0% |
| Worcester Galloping |
1 | 1 other | 16 Sep | 0% |
| Lingfield Park Sharp |
1 | 1 other | 5 Mar | 0% |
| Plumpton Sharp |
1 | 1 other | 21 Oct | 0% |
| Bath Undulating |
1 | 1 other | 20 Apr | 0% |
| Uttoxeter Sharp |
1 | 1 other | 20 Dec | 0% |