The yard behind him is a small, family operation. Luke Dace trains out of Billingshurst in West Sussex and has sent out 6 winners this season, which is a respectable tally for a trainer of that size. His son Jack Dace does much of the riding, partnering Valentine Boy in 6 of his 10 races. Together they have won once from those 6 attempts, but that first-hand knowledge of a horse's quirks and preferences is often worth more than the bare numbers suggest.
What the numbers do back up is Valentine Boy's preference for wet, muddy ground. In those conditions he has won 2 of his 6 races — 1 in every 3 — compared with nothing on faster surfaces. Combine that with his sweet spot of a mile and a furlong to a mile and two furlongs, where he again wins 1 in 3, and you start to see a horse who is genuinely specific about what he needs to produce his best. Get the conditions wrong and he is mediocre. Get them right, and he wins.
He raced just yesterday, which tells you this is a horse in serious work, and his last win came at Kempton Park three weeks ago — his most recent form reading 4-1-3-10-1-8 shows a horse with real peaks and troughs, capable of a big run one day and a quiet one the next. The step up to Class 1 or 2 company has yet to come, and at the highest level he is untested. But for now Valentine Boy is a horse who knows his job, knows his track, and when the ground goes soft and the trip is right, he is one to be watching.
| Course | Races | Results | Last visited | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kempton Park Galloping |
6 | 2 wins, 1 third, 3 other | 27 May | 33.3% |
| Newbury Galloping |
1 | 1 other | 5 Aug | 0% |
| Brighton Undulating |
1 | 1 other | 16 Oct | 0% |
| Lingfield Park Sharp |
1 | 1 other | 23 Sep | 0% |
| Salisbury Undulating |
1 | 1 other | 12 Jul | 0% |