Fantasy Obsessor

The two wins did arrive in a short burst. Fantasy Obsessor broke through at Southwell in June 2025, then followed up at Chelmsford a fortnight later, suggesting a horse that had found its rhythm and its confidence at the same time. Back-to-back wins like that tend to be the most exciting moment in a horse's career — the point where you think something is clicking into place. Since then, however, the last six races tell a more difficult story: a second place, a fifth, and then three finishes deep in the field. The momentum has stalled.

Michael Appleby trains the horse from his yard in Oakham, Rutland, and he is clearly having a productive season — 79 winners already this campaign is a serious output, the mark of a busy, well-organised operation that keeps horses running and ready. When a yard is firing at that kind of volume, it also means they have a good sense of when a horse is ready to run and when it is not. Fantasy Obsessor has been kept active throughout, which suggests Appleby still believes there is a performance in there waiting to come out. Whether the horse can recapture the form that produced those two wins last summer is the question every race now poses.