Letsbefrank

Trainer Jim Goldie, whose yard in Uplawmoor, Lanarkshire has sent out an impressive 88 winners this season alone, has been refreshingly honest about how the horse struggled earlier in the year. A hard campaign in 2024 appears to have taken its toll — Letsbefrank came back lethargic and out of sorts, and Goldie made the decision to ease off, treating him for ulcers and various health issues rather than forcing the issue. That kind of patience from a trainer is not always easy to show when a horse has been in such good form, but it is often exactly what a horse needs.

And it worked. Letsbefrank won at Musselburgh just this week — his most recent race — ridden by regular partner Paul Mulrennan, who has been alongside the horse for 11 of his 20 career races. Mulrennan is full of admiration for what Goldie has built, pointing out after a previous win at Pontefract that plotting out a sequence of victories over a season takes real skill. "To win one race is hard," he said, "but to win three takes some doing." It is a reminder that the trainer's job is not just about training — it is about reading a horse's calendar correctly.

Mulrennan himself wins on Letsbefrank roughly 1 in every 11 times they race together, which sounds modest until you consider that racing is genuinely difficult and most combinations would take that. What is clear from the jockey's own words is that Letsbefrank is not always easy — the horse can be reluctant and slow to warm up — but he digs deep when it matters. That combination of stubbornness and genuine toughness is exactly what makes certain horses worth persevering with. Goldie clearly believes there is more to come, and after a win this week, it is hard to argue with him.