Per Contra

The most striking number is on normal ground: Per Contra has won 2 of just 3 races in standard conditions, a two-in-three success rate that stands out sharply against its overall record. Ground clearly matters to this horse. When the track is playing fairly, it becomes a very different proposition.

Tim Easterby trains Per Contra from his yard at Great Habton in North Yorkshire, and this is a stable in seriously good form — 128 winners this season alone. That kind of volume means Easterby knows a horse's strengths better than most, and when a yard firing on all cylinders keeps running a horse, it usually means they see something worth persisting with. The bulk of Per Contra's career has come at Class 3 level, one step below the very top tier, where it has managed 1 win from 11 races — roughly 1 in every 11 at that grade, which tells you honestly that it finds life harder against better horses.

The jockey picture is worth noting too. David Allan has partnered Per Contra in 10 races without a single win together. That is a long run without reward for a regular partnership, and it raises a quiet question about whether a change might eventually be the spark the horse needs.

Per Contra raced just yesterday, which makes it one of the most active horses around right now. Its last win came at Newcastle back in September 2025 — ten months ago — and the recent run of six races without a victory will not have gone unnoticed. The first win arrived at Chepstow in July 2023, which feels like a while ago now. Whether Per Contra can rediscover that winning feeling likely comes down to conditions: catch it on the right ground, on a day everything clicks, and this is a horse with form to suggest it absolutely can.