Choccabloc

What makes the gap feel more painful is that when Choccabloc has won, it has won well. The second of those victories came at Ludlow in November 2023 — a Class 2 race, which puts it among the better contests in Britain. Winning at that level, even once, tells you this isn't an ordinary horse. The first win came at Market Rasen earlier that same year, and the trainer Andrew McNamara, based in Athboy, County Meath, described Choccabloc at the time as an exciting prospect with a natural talent for jumping — the kind of horse the yard believed could step up further if pointed at fences rather than hurdles.

The conditions matter too. On soft or slightly wet ground, Choccabloc has been a different animal entirely — winning 2 of its 6 races in those conditions, which is a 33% win rate and genuinely impressive. That's one in every three attempts. Put it on fast, dry ground and the record tells a very different story. There's a horse in here that knows what it likes.

The present is harder to paint in bright colours. Six races without a win, and regular partner Brian Hayes has yet to get off the mark in five attempts together — 0 from 5 is a partnership that hasn't clicked on the scoreboard, whatever it might look like in the paddock. The yard itself is in decent form, sending out 7 winners this season, so the problem isn't the stable. Raced just yesterday, Choccabloc is very much an active runner, and McNamara has spoken about a possible switch to fences as the next step — a change that could easily reignite things for a horse that has always jumped well. The talent from 2023 hasn't vanished. It's just waiting for the right conditions, in every sense.