Mr Baloo

The partnership with jockey Joe Leavy has been one of the most productive relationships in the horse's career. Together they have won 5 from 15 races — that is a 33% win rate, meaning they win roughly one in every three times they line up together. For context, most jockey-horse combinations in this sort of company win far less often than that. When Leavy is in the saddle, something clicks.

Mr Baloo is at his happiest on normal ground and over seven furlongs to a mile — conditions that suit a horse with a bit of pace but enough stamina to grind it out. On normal ground he has won 5 from 14 races, a 36% win rate, and over that distance range he has taken 4 from 12. Wolverhampton is a track he has made his own to a degree, with 2 wins from just 6 visits — a conversion rate that jumps out when you consider how many horses visit that track repeatedly and never win there at all.

His most recent win came at Lingfield Park in April 2026, and it was the kind of performance that sticks in the memory. Hannon described it with genuine pride — two horses went past him in the race, and rather than fold, Mr Baloo dug in and fought them off. That competitive streak is hard to teach, and it is part of what has made him such a consistent earner at Class 4 level, where he has won 7 from 27 races, a 26% win rate across his most common grade of competition.

Most of Mr Baloo's wins have come at Class 4, which sits comfortably in the middle tier of British racing. He is not a headline-grabber at the sport's biggest occasions, but he is the kind of horse a trainer trusts — reliable, tough, and honest. Nine wins and counting, with a race just yesterday. He is far from finished.