Faivoir

That Cheltenham win on 17 March 2023 is the jewel in the crown. Faivoir competes mainly at Class 1 level — the very top of British racing — and has won 1 of his 11 races there, which sounds modest until you appreciate how few horses ever win at that level at all. It was jockey Bridget Andrews, not his usual partner Harry Skelton, who steered him home that day, and trainer Dan Skelton was openly emotional about it afterwards, noting that she doesn't often get the big rides but proved exactly why she deserves them. Faivoir had been talked up as a horse who could win one of those big races that season, and he delivered when it mattered.

His trainer Dan Skelton, based at Alcester in Warwickshire, is having an extraordinary season — 194 winners sent out this year alone, a number that puts the yard among the very busiest and most successful in the country. Skelton describes Faivoir with real affection: a "bit of a monkey," a horse who can be led astray by what's happening around him but who never wins by so much that the handicapper truly catches up with him. That is actually a kind of intelligence — staying just good enough, just often enough.

Normal ground suits him best. On a standard surface he has won 2 of his 6 races — roughly 1 in every 3 — which is a strong return at this level. Harry Skelton has ridden him in 10 of his races together, winning once, and the partnership has not sparked the same magic as that Festival afternoon with Andrews aboard.

Faivoir hasn't won in 37 months, and his last six runs read 15-3-7-8-3-8 — plenty of placed efforts but no victories. Yet he raced just yesterday, and Skelton says he came back from injury recently looking enthusiastic and athletic. At 11, most horses are winding down. Faivoir appears to have other ideas.