Southbank

His home at Chelmsford is where Southbank looks most at ease. Three wins from 11 races there works out to winning roughly 1 in every 3.5 races at the track — more than double his overall win rate of around 1 in every 7 races. That kind of course preference is worth paying attention to. Some horses simply suit a particular surface, a particular bend, or the way a race tends to play out at one venue. Whatever the reason, Chelmsford brings out the best in him.

Trainer Chris Gordon, based at Morestead in Hampshire, has had a productive season — 51 winners sent out this term — and Southbank has been a useful part of that. Gordon has spoken warmly about the horse, noting wins at Bath on turf and at Kempton on the all-weather last autumn. He was actually purchased just three weeks before his Bath win, which makes that result all the more striking. Gordon credited the horse's former trainer Stuart Williams with having him in excellent shape, and remarked that Southbank "thrived off the ground" — shorthand for saying he handled the fast, dry conditions well and clearly relished them. The horse was bought at the sales by agent Richard Venn specifically for owner Kate Digweed and her family, with the brief to find something tough and consistent. By those standards, the job has been done.

The majority of Southbank's racing has come at Class 6 level — the entry-level tier of British flat racing — where he has won 6 from 27 races, a win rate of 22%, or roughly 1 in every 4.5 races at that level. His last win came at Kempton Park in October 2025, now seven months ago, and he hasn't won in his last six outings, though his recent form figures of 2-6-2-3-2 show he is placing regularly. He raced just yesterday, so the team are keeping him busy through the winter all-weather season, hoping another win is not far away.