Happy Henry

His recent form reads 1-3-1-3-3-2, and what that sequence tells you is that Happy Henry has been knocking on the door almost every time he has run lately. Two wins from his last six races is a dramatic improvement on his overall record, and those wins have arrived quickly: first at Navan in June, then at Bellewstown just this week. Back-to-back victories in the space of a month suggests a horse that has genuinely found his stride, not one getting lucky once on a soft day.

The ground matters here. On normal conditions, Happy Henry has won 2 of his 8 races — that is a 25% win rate, which in horse racing terms is seriously good. One win in every four attempts on a surface he likes tells you this is a horse with a real preference, and that preference is worth knowing. When the ground is right, he is a different animal.

He is trained by W McCreery, whose yard in Rathbride, Co Kildare has sent out 19 winners already this season — a busy, in-form operation that clearly knows how to place a horse well. Interestingly, his regular jockey W J Lee has yet to get a win from their seven rides together, which makes you wonder whether the horse might be even sharper in the right hands. The two victories this month came with the horse in form regardless, so the team will be quietly pleased with how things are developing.

Happy Henry raced just yesterday, so the yard — sorry, the yard — will decide soon whether to let him run again quickly and capitalise on his momentum or give him a breather. Either way, this is a horse worth watching right now. When a five-year-old suddenly wins twice in a month after a stop-start career, it usually means something has changed. Happy Henry looks like a horse who has finally worked out what racing is all about.