A Perfect Day

The first win came at Wincanton in November 2024, and by Ben Clarke's own account, it wasn't entirely according to plan. The yard had sent A Perfect Day there for an educational run — a chance to learn the ropes — but the race favourite fell and the horse won easily. That might sound like good luck, but it created a headache: winning that day meant A Perfect Day lost its novice status earlier than the team would have liked, removing a layer of opportunity for the season ahead. Then came the real setback. The horse came out of the race with a tibia fracture, which put it on the easy list for a significant stretch. These things happen in racing, but a fracture at that stage, just as a young horse is beginning to show its potential, is a serious interruption.

The Lingfield win in December 2025 — the most recent victory, four months ago — showed the horse had come back well. At Class 4 level, where A Perfect Day has done most of its racing, the record reads 2 wins from 4 races, a 50% win rate. That is a genuinely impressive return at that level, winning exactly half the races it has contested there.

Clarke, who trains from Mosterton in Dorset and has sent out 13 winners already this season, has a clear picture of where this horse is headed. He rode A Perfect Day himself recently for the first time in three months and came away enthusiastic. The horse's half-brother won a point-to-point by 24 lengths, which hints at a family with raw ability. Clarke sees A Perfect Day as a future chaser — the bigger fences that come with steeplechasing — and with an autumn return pencilled in, the horse is being managed carefully rather than rushed. Given what has already been achieved from just eight races, including a fracture along the way, that patience looks well placed.