Bernie The Bear

All three of those wins have come on normal ground, and all three came at the lowest tier of British racing — Class 6, the entry level. In that context, a 6% win rate (3 wins from 51 races at that level) is about as good as it gets for Bernie The Bear. The horse simply does what it does at the level it races at, nothing more, nothing less.

The most interesting thread in this career is Wolverhampton. Both of Bernie The Bear's wins after the first came at that track, and the record there — 2 wins from 17 races — stands comfortably above anything achieved elsewhere. The first win at Wolverhampton came in August 2023, and the second followed in December of that same year. That was 30 months ago now, and the horse has not won since. The current losing run stretches to at least the last 6 races, with recent finishes of 8th, 9th, 6th, 11th, 8th, and 4th — competitive enough in patches, but no cigar.

Jockey Tommie Jakes has had 13 chances aboard Bernie The Bear without a win together, which does not reflect badly on either party — it simply tells you how rarely this horse finds the front. Trainer Linda Perratt, based in East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire, has sent out 19 winners this season, so the yard is clearly capable. Bernie The Bear raced just yesterday, which underlines that this is an active, well-campaigned horse. The career prize money sits in territory that speaks to a solid, workmanlike racehorse rather than anything approaching a high achiever — and there is no shame in that. Some horses exist to remind you that sport needs participants, not just champions.