Francesco Baracca

The most striking thing about Francesco Baracca is what he does at Wolverhampton. He has won 3 of his 5 races there — that's 60%, or three wins from five visits — which is an extraordinary return for any horse at any track. For context, most horses are doing well to win 1 in 5 anywhere. At Wolverhampton, he is something close to a banker. His most recent win came there in February, and the form suggests that whenever his trainer sends him back, you sit up and pay attention.

Eve Johnson Houghton trains him out of Blewbury in Oxfordshire, a yard that has sent out 42 winners already this season — a serious operation. She knows her horse well, and has said publicly that he has a funny pattern: he tends to win one and then disappoint the next time out. That's not a guess — it's a documented quirk. Looking at his last six runs, that pattern holds up: two wins, then a twelfth, a third, and an eighth scattered around them. He is not a horse you follow blindly every time out. You watch for the right conditions.

And the conditions matter. He is at his best over long distances — two miles or more — where he has won 2 of his 4 races (50%). On normal ground, he has won 3 from 8 (38%). He competes mostly at Class 5, which is the everyday level of racing rather than the big occasions, but within that grade he wins 4 from 15 (27%), which is a genuinely good record. Georgia Dobie has been his most regular jockey, winning 2 of their 9 races together (22%) — a solid partnership at this level.

His first win came at Great Yarmouth in September 2023, and he has been a consistent, if occasionally baffling, presence since. He is not a horse chasing glory at the top level, but a dependable, course-loving character who knows exactly where he thrives. Catch him at Wolverhampton, over a long trip, on normal ground — and he becomes one of the more reliable horses in training.