The most telling relationship in Spencer's operation is the one with jockey Dale Swift. Their 10 wins together from 108 rides — roughly 1 in every 11 — is the engine room of Spencer's career record, and it suggests a genuine working partnership built on familiarity and trust. When a trainer and jockey click, it usually means they're reading the same horses the same way, and that consistency tends to pay off over time.
Then there's Chuzzlewit — seven races together, zero wins. That's not necessarily a disaster; plenty of horses take time to find their feet, and not every partnership is built to win. But it does stand out as the partnership that hasn't delivered yet, and at some point Spencer will have to decide whether to persist or try something different.
The honest picture is of a trainer who has shown he can do this — 39 career winners in four years is a legitimate track record for a relatively young operation — but who is navigating a leaner spell right now. Whether the dip from 12% to 7% is a blip or something that needs addressing, only the rest of the season will tell.
| Course | Races | Wins | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle | 25 | 0 | 0% |
| Wolverhampton | 22 | 3 | 13.6% |
| Southwell | 22 | 1 | 4.5% |
| Catterick Bridge | 19 | 1 | 5.3% |
| Thirsk | 15 | 2 | 13.3% |
| Redcar | 10 | 1 | 10% |
| Ayr | 7 | 0 | 0% |
| York | 7 | 0 | 0% |
| Doncaster | 6 | 0 | 0% |
| Carlisle | 5 | 2 | 40% |
| Ripon | 5 | 2 | 40% |
| Beverley | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Hamilton Park | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Musselburgh | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| Newmarket | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Haydock Park | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Leicester | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Nottingham | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Pontefract | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Kempton Park | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Chester | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Ascot | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Newbury | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Wetherby | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Market Rasen | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Chepstow | 1 | 0 | 0% |