Kats Bob

His trainer Ruth Carr, whose yard in Stillington, North Yorkshire has sent out 56 winners already this season, describes him as a front-runner who wears his heart on his sleeve — a horse who puts everything into it from the front and makes no secret of how he races. Carr clearly has a soft spot for him: straightforward and a pleasure to have around the yard, apparently. That kind of horse is worth its weight in routine at a busy stable.

The numbers have a few things worth highlighting. On normal, standard ground, Kats Bob wins 5 from 17 races — nearly 1 in 3 — which is noticeably better than his overall rate and suggests the ground really does matter to him. At Southwell specifically, he's won 2 from just 5 visits, a record that makes him look like a genuine course specialist at a track where not every horse takes to the unique surface. Most of his racing has come at Class 5 level — the bread-and-butter end of the sport — where he's won 6 from 27, around 1 in every 4.5 races.

He hasn't won in his last six outings, and his most recent form reads 2-7-20-4-14-4, which is mixed but not alarming for a horse of his age and experience. His last win came at York in June 2025 — thirteen months ago — and his most regular jockey, Andrew Mullen, has ridden him to 5 of those 12 wins from 28 rides together, winning roughly 1 in every 6, which broadly matches the horse's overall rate. That's a genuine partnership rather than a revolving door of different riders.

Carr mentioned after a promising second at Catterick on his seasonal reappearance that she doesn't love running horses back quickly off a break, but a declaration at Ripon may follow depending on how the handicapper responds to that run. He raced just yesterday, so Kats Bob is very much live and current — and if the ground comes up right, history suggests he'll be worth watching.