Snuggle

Those two Windsor wins tell you a lot about where this horse belongs. The first came on 15 May 2023, and it was no ordinary victory — Snuggle won a Class 2 race, which means one of the better contests in Britain. For a horse that has never won at Class 4 level in 15 attempts — the bread-and-butter tier where most of its career has been spent — landing a top-level prize at Windsor on debut is genuinely puzzling and genuinely impressive. It suggests something about that track suits Snuggle in a way very little else does. The second Windsor win followed on 22 April 2024, confirming the connection was no fluke.

The difficult part is that Windsor win was now 26 months ago, and the current run of form makes for uncomfortable reading. The last six races have produced no wins: placings in two of them, but also a run of 12th and nothing better than fourth since. The most recent outing, just yesterday, returned a ninth place. Tom Marquand, who rides Snuggle more than anyone else, has won once from their seven races together — roughly 1 in 7 — which reflects the general pattern of a horse that places often enough to stay interesting but rarely finds the front.

Faulkner's yard has been in decent health this season with 16 winners sent out, so the training operation is ticking over. The question is whether Snuggle has one more Windsor moment left. The course form is real and documented, not imagined. If the team points this horse back to Windsor, it will not be wishful thinking — it will be following the only evidence that has ever produced a winning day.