Ebony Maw

The headline number is modest: 4 wins from 45 races, which works out at roughly 1 in every 11. But the way those wins are distributed tells a more interesting story. Three of the four have come at Ayr — 3 wins from 12 races there, a 25% win rate at one specific track. That is not a coincidence. Some horses just click with a particular place, whether it is the shape of the bends, the camber, or something harder to explain, and Ayr clearly suits Ebony Maw in a way most other venues do not. The most recent win came there on 1 October 2024, now 18 months ago, but the track record is real and it is earned.

Ground conditions matter too. On very wet, muddy ground Ebony Maw has won 2 from 8 races — that is 1 in every 4, which is a sharp improvement on its overall average. On normal ground it is 2 from 12, again better than the baseline. The pattern suggests a horse that actually improves when conditions get difficult, which is a useful trait and not something every horse can say.

The current form — finishing seventh, ninth, third, eighth, ninth, third across the last six races — is patchy rather than worrying. The pair of thirds shows the ability is still there; the nineths are frustrating but not unusual for a horse competing consistently and often. Jockey Rowan Scott has ridden Ebony Maw 12 times for a single win together, but that partnership keeps being renewed, which says something about the trust the team at Hawick place in the combination. Trainer Ewan Whillans has already sent out 28 winners this season from his yard in the Scottish Borders, so this is not a quiet operation just filling race cards.

The one area that genuinely puzzles is the Class 5 record: 0 wins from 18 races. Given that this is the level Ebony Maw competes at most often, it is a strange blank. The wins have come elsewhere, in different company. Whether that pattern eventually breaks is one of the more interesting questions this horse's next few runs might answer.