Vafortino

The trainer Charlie Fellowes, based at Newmarket, has kept Vafortino racing into his eighth year because the horse shows genuine ability on normal ground. On fast, dry tracks, he wins roughly one in every four races—three wins from twelve attempts—which is a meaningful edge. When the ground turns soft or muddy, however, his win rate collapses. Recent form reads poorly: three blanks in his last six runs, including an eighth and a seventh. Jockey James Doyle has described him as a horse that needs time to find his rhythm in crowded fields, particularly when running fresh off a break. The post-race comment after his Meydan win—his last victory—hints at a horse who requires thoughtful handling and sometimes needs room to work into a race rather than immediate sharpness.

Benoit De La Sayette has ridden him seven times with one win between them, suggesting the partnership has never quite clicked as well as it might. At Class 2 level, where he typically competes now, Vafortino wins roughly one in every six or seven races, reflecting a horse who remains competitive at a respectable level but no longer has the sparkle to win regularly. He is useful to have in a race and the Fellowes yard continues to place him on ground he likes, but a horse without a win in his last six runs, inactive for months at a time, and now in his ninth year, is running on reputation as much as form.