Big Love

The numbers heading into that win were not encouraging. Big Love had finished fourth three times and once failed to complete, and regular jockey Jamie Hamilton had drawn a blank across all five of their races together — zero wins from five attempts is a tough run for any partnership. Yet the horse clearly found something at Kelso, and a first win has a way of changing the conversation around a horse entirely.

Trained by the experienced Michael and David Easterby, Big Love races out of a yard that has been in fine form this season — 51 winners sent out is a genuinely impressive tally and suggests the operation knows how to get horses ready. The Easterbys will have been patient with Big Love, and that patience just paid off. With most of the horse's races coming at Class 4 level — solid, competitive mid-tier racing — and no wins there yet across four attempts, it will be interesting to see whether Kelso was the moment everything clicked, or just a welcome one-off. Either way, Big Love raced again just yesterday, so the team are clearly keeping the momentum going while confidence is high.