Personal Best

The first win arrived at Leicester in October 2024, and the story behind it is one of the better ones you'll hear. Portman had to talk a co-owner — Rosa Pease, who has been with the yard for 26 years and actually bred the horse — into running at all. She warned him off it roughly six times. He ran anyway, on heavy, churned-up ground, with no great expectations and no hard work done at home. The horse won. That kind of moment is exactly why trainers back their own instincts.

The second win came at Ffos Las in June 2025, and that is now 12 months without a victory, with the last six races returning a sequence of 2-3-4-2-2-4. Close, but not quite. Portman himself has hinted at the reason: this is a horse that wants some ease in the ground — wet or soft conditions — and has looked a little below its best when those aren't available. A below-par run at Sandown hasn't changed his view of the horse's ability, and he described it as "a nice horse to follow." Where Personal Best really thrives is at Class 4 level — the bread-and-butter tier of British racing — where it has won 2 from 5, a remarkable 40% win rate. That is a horse operating in exactly the right company.

Rob Hornby has been in the saddle for 11 of the 12 races, winning 2 of them — roughly 1 in every 5.5 rides together (18%). That kind of long-term partnership breeds understanding, and Hornby will know this horse well. With the yard firing and wetter autumn ground on the horizon, Personal Best is exactly the type to keep an eye on.