Judge Frank

Both of those wins came in the autumn of 2024, first at Chepstow in September and then at Windsor a fortnight later. Back-to-back victories is no small thing at any level, and for a horse competing primarily in Class 6 races — the entry-level tier of British flat racing — those two wins represent the clearest version of Judge Frank: at his best on normal ground, over distances between seven furlongs and a mile, and in the kind of company where he can genuinely compete. On normal ground specifically, he has won 2 from 9 races, a 22% win rate, which is a meaningful edge compared to his overall record.

Since that Windsor win in September 2024, however, Judge Frank has gone 20 months without returning to the winner's enclosure. His last six finishes read 6-5-7-11-7-7, none of them close. Regular jockey Rob Hornby has partnered him five times in that spell without a win, though it would be unfair to pin the lean run on any one factor. The yard — John and Rhys Flint, training out of Kenfig Hill in Bridgend — has sent out seven winners this season, so the operation is producing results. It just has not been Judge Frank carrying them home.

He raced just yesterday, which tells you this is a horse being kept busy and aimed at finding his form rather than being wrapped in cotton wool. At five, he is not old, and horses have come back from longer losing runs than this. The profile of his best performances — normal conditions, around a mile, in Class 6 company — is clear enough. Whether he can find his way back to that window is the only question still open.