Valentine Catcher

The first win arrived at Redcar in October 2023, and it was memorable enough that jockey David Allan was openly impressed afterwards. Allan noted that the conditions that day — wet and muddy — weren't expected to suit, that the horse was a little slow to break and green in the early stages, but that he travelled beautifully through the race and got there without much fuss. "There's obviously plenty of potential there," he said. That kind of debut victory, where a horse wins despite doing several things wrong, tends to stick in the memory of a yard.

Easterby himself has spoken about Valentine Catcher with genuine enthusiasm. During a stable tour last spring, he suggested the horse could be a candidate for the Macmillan race at York — a meaningful target — and made an interesting observation: all of the horse's racing at that point had come on wet or muddy ground simply because that's what was available, but he believed the horse would actually be better on normal or fast, dry ground. That's a trainer telling you the record flatters the difficult conditions rather than the horse's ceiling.

The shorter distances suit him best. Of his 14 races over five to six-and-a-half furlongs, he has won twice — roughly 1 in every 7 — which is where his best form lives. David Allan, who has ridden him in seven of those 22 races, has the clearest picture of what he can do, winning once from those seven attempts together, or about 1 in every 5 rides. Easterby's yard has sent out 128 winners this season alone, so this is a high-functioning operation that knows how to place a horse.

The last win came at Nottingham in August 2024, now nearly two years ago, and the most recent six runs have produced a seventh, ninth, third, fourth, sixth, and second — close enough to keep interest alive, but not quite delivering. He raced just yesterday, so the team clearly still believe there is a race to be won with him somewhere.