It's A Love Thing

What makes him genuinely interesting is how selective those wins have been. He absolutely dominates at Wolverhampton, where he has won 3 of his 13 races there — a far better win rate than his overall record suggests. At the lower-class level where he typically races, he wins only 1 in every 11 attempts, which shows that when he steps up to slightly better opposition, Wolverhampton becomes almost his private playground. His last win came at Pontefract on 30 April 2025, more than a year and a half ago now, and he has not managed a victory in his last six races, finishing recently with placings of third, eighth, tenth, eighth, seventh, and sixth. That is a slide, but not a catastrophic one for a horse at this stage of his career.

Trainer Sam England, based near Guiseley in Yorkshire, has had to manage this horse carefully. It's A Love Thing has had respiratory issues in the past — bleeding and wind problems that required surgery — but England reckons those troubles have finally cleared up. The horse's feet are another constant battle; they are oversized and temperamental, which is why he spends time swimming to keep fit without jarring them. Jonathan England, the jockey most often in the saddle, has won just 1 of his 10 rides on the horse, a modest partnership. But with his Wolverhampton form and a trainer who clearly knows what he is doing, It's A Love Thing remains exactly what his name suggests: a tough, honest horse still capable of picking off a race at his level.