King of The Story

The real story here is what happens when King of The Story gets to Warwick. In four races at the track he has won twice — that is a win rate of one win in every two races, which is genuinely exceptional. His last victory came this week, on 22 September, suggesting he still has plenty of racing left in him despite his age. At the lower end of the sport, in Class 5 races, he has won four of twenty races, a 20% win rate that shows he is a genuine threat when the competition is pitched at this level.

Polly Gundry trains him from her yard at Ottery St Mary in Devon, and while the operation is modest — four winners this season — she seems to know what she is doing with this horse. Sean Houlihan rides him most often, though their partnership has yielded just one win from nine races together, suggesting the magic happens more reliably with other riders in the saddle. His recent form wobbles: a win last time out, a second place before that, but then a seventh place and two blanks in the three races before that. It is the sort of patchy run that tells you King of The Story is not a machine, but when he clicks at the right track against the right opposition, he can still deliver.