Sober

The seven-year-old has had a busy and productive recent spell. The first win came at Killarney in May 2025, and then things accelerated quickly. A victory at Ascot followed on 21 June 2025 — and not just any Ascot race, but a Class 2, which puts it among the better races run in Britain. Getting a horse to win at that level is an achievement in itself; doing it in only the horse's handful of career races is the kind of thing that makes people pay attention.

Sober has won three of its last six races, with the sequence reading 16th, 1st, off, 1st, 1st, 9th from most recent backwards. That cluster of three wins in a short window suggests a horse that found its stride and took full advantage. The most recent victory came at Punchestown in January 2026, so there is a gap of around three months since the last win — though Sober did race 18 days ago and remains active, so the team clearly has plans in motion.

Behind all of this is Willie Mullins, the trainer based in Co Carlow, whose yard has sent out 237 winners already this season. That is a staggering number — it means Mullins and his team are producing a winner almost every day of the racing calendar, and they operate at the very top of the sport. When a horse like Sober lands a Class 2 race at Ascot under his care, it is worth noting that Mullins does not tend to run horses out of their depth. If he took Sober to Ascot, he thought it could win there — and it did.