Mister Vic

That Ballinrobe win is the headline here. It came after years of racing without a victory, which makes it all the more satisfying — for the team behind him, if not quite for anyone who had been backing him in the meantime. He raced there just one day ago, so he is very much an active horse right now, though his recent form makes for mixed reading: a win tucked in at position four of his last six runs, bookended by a second place and some less impressive finishes of eighth and twelfth.

His most regular jockey has been Mr L T Turner, who has partnered him in 6 of his 14 races and was aboard for that breakthrough win. Together they have won 1 from 6, a rate of roughly 1 in 6 — not spectacular on paper, but the fact that their one win together is also the only win of this horse's entire career gives that partnership a certain significance. When it mattered most, they delivered.

Mister Vic is not a horse who is going to trouble the big prizes, and at eight years old the clock is ticking on whatever he has left to give. But there is something quietly compelling about a horse who takes 14 races to win his first, then turns up the very next day still competing. He is what racing is full of at its grassroots level — not a superstar, but a genuine trier, and Ballinrobe will always be his place.