Little Venice

That sole career win came at Beverley on 25 June 2024, and it remains the only one. Twenty-two months have passed since, and the six most recent runs have produced no wins — though the recent form does show two second-place finishes and two thirds, which suggests the horse is running well enough without being able to seal the deal. The distance range of a mile and one to a mile and two furlongs appears to suit it best: one win from seven races at those trips (14%) is a far better picture than the total record suggests, and it is where the horse looks most at home.

Trainer Neil Mulholland operates out of Limpley Stoke in Wiltshire, and his yard has been in decent shape — 60 winners sent out this season is a solid return from a professional outfit that clearly knows what it is doing. Jockey Rowan Scott takes the ride most often, partnering Little Venice in nine of its races for that one win together. That is roughly 1 in every 9 times, or an 11% win rate when they are paired — modest, but not out of step with what the horse has shown overall.

One detail worth noting is that Little Venice typically competes at Class 5, the lower end of the British racing ladder, and has not won at that level in ten attempts. The only win came at a different class. That is a curious quirk — a horse that found the net once but cannot repeat the trick at the grade it most commonly enters. Raced just yesterday and still active, there is clearly an appetite from the team to keep searching for that second moment. Whether it comes will depend on things clicking together in exactly the right way, as they briefly did on a June afternoon at Beverley nearly two years ago.