Renoir

His best distance is between a mile and six furlongs and two miles, where he has won 1 from 7 races (around 1 in 7 at that trip). That is where he stretches out and looks most at home. At Class 4 level — the bread-and-butter races he tends to compete in — he has yet to win from 7 attempts, which is an awkward blank. But a horse that places as often as Renoir is clearly not disgracing himself; he just needs things to fall right.

Ben Clarke trains him from a small yard in Mosterton, Dorset, and Clarke has sent out 13 winners this season, which is a solid return for an operation of that size. He picked Renoir up for £7,000, knowing the horse had already won on the flat, and the plan was always to step him up over hurdles. Clarke has spoken about wanting a strong pace to suit him and believes Renoir has more in him than his record currently shows — a trainer who has watched a horse every day tends to be right about that. Rex Dingle has ridden him five times and won once, giving them a 20% win rate together — 1 from 5 — which is better than the horse's overall record and suggests the partnership has some chemistry worth building on.

Renoir raced just yesterday, which makes him one of the more active horses in training. His last win came at Hereford in March 2025 — roughly sixteen months ago — and his recent run of form reads 8-3-6-7-3-4, a sequence that includes two third-place finishes but nothing to suggest the winning habit has fully returned. Clarke appears patient with him, and a horse that keeps placing at this level is clearly still trying. Sometimes all it takes is the right track, the right pace, and the right day — and for Renoir, those pieces may still come together.