Ninety Nine

The numbers are modest. A 7% win rate means Ninety Nine wins roughly 1 in every 14 races, and at Class 6 — the entry-level tier of British racing — the record reads just 1 win from 21 attempts, or about 1 in every 21. That second win came at Catterick Bridge in October 2024, and it remains the most recent one. Twenty months have passed since, and the last six runs have produced no wins at all, with finishing positions of 14th, 7th, 2nd, 10th, 7th, and 12th suggesting a horse that gets close occasionally but hasn't been able to find that final gear when it matters. The second place in that sequence is the flicker worth watching — it means the ability is still there on the right day.

Trained by John Wainwright out of Norton in North Yorkshire, Ninety Nine is part of a yard that has sent out four winners already this season, so the operation is ticking over. At five years old, this horse is still relatively young and has time on its side. Wainwright's team will be hoping that Catterick win in 2024 wasn't the last chapter.

What makes Ninety Nine quietly compelling isn't the trophy cabinet — it's the consistency of presence. Racing just yesterday, this is a horse that keeps lining up, keeps finding its way into the places, and occasionally reminds everyone what it can do. In a sport full of big names and enormous budgets, there's something genuinely worth appreciating about a horse like this: unremarkable on paper, but still there, still trying, race after race.