Renoir

The first win came at Wolverhampton in October 2024, and the second at Hereford in March 2025 — now 13 months ago. Since that Hereford victory, Renoir has gone six races without winning, his last six finishing positions reading 4th, 3rd, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 7th from oldest to most recent. There are places in there, signs of life, but the wins have dried up. Part of the puzzle may lie in where he has been running: at Class 4 level — the bread-and-butter tier of British racing, one step below the big occasions — he has raced seven times and won precisely none of them. That is a record that raises a quiet question about whether this is the right level for him, or whether he simply needs conditions to fall his way.

Rex Dingle has been in the saddle for five of those 18 races and picked up one of the two wins, giving the pair a win rate of 20% together — about 1 in every 5 rides — which is actually a decent hit rate between two people still finding their rhythm. Clarke's yard has sent out 13 winners this season, so the operation is ticking along. What the team will be hoping is that Renoir finds a race that suits his particular needs rather than simply turning up and grinding out another near-miss.

The honest assessment is that this is a horse in a bit of a lean spell, competing at a level where he has not yet managed to win. But he keeps placing, keeps running, and was out racing just yesterday. Sometimes that kind of persistence is all a horse needs — one race where everything clicks, the pace is right, and a win that has been building for 13 months finally arrives.