No More No

That kind of course form is not a coincidence — it speaks to something about the track suiting this horse down to the ground, whether that is the tight turns, the synthetic surface, or simply the trip. Whatever the reason, Southwell brings out the very best in this horse, and any time No More No is declared there, it commands attention.

The broader picture of recent form backs this up too. Over the last six races, No More No has won three of them, with finishes reading 1-1-7-1-2-9 in reverse chronological order. The two poor runs — seventh and ninth — stand out, but horses are not machines, and three wins from six races is a strong return by any measure. At the level where No More No typically competes, winning half of its races in the Class 5 tier (3 wins from 6 races at that level) suggests a horse that is genuinely well placed by its trainer and knows how to get the job done.

Lawney Hill, who trains from a small yard at Aston Rowant in Oxfordshire, has sent out two winners this season — and No More No accounts for a significant portion of that yard's firepower. Small training operations rarely have deep rosters of talent, so a horse like this, reliable, consistent, and deadly at its favourite track, is the sort that holds an entire yard's season together. For a trainer working with limited resources, having a course specialist you can point at a specific track and expect results from is worth its weight in gold. No More No is exactly that horse, and this week's win at Southwell suggests it has no intention of giving that record up any time soon.