Free Solo

The most striking thing about Free Solo is what happens when he turns up at Lingfield Park. In just 4 races there, he has won twice — that is a 50% win rate at a single track, compared to 9% everywhere else. For context, most horses never win at any particular course twice in their career, let alone half the time they show up. Something about Lingfield suits him in a way that almost nothing else does, and that first win there on 22 December 2022 clearly was not a fluke.

He also has a preference for normal ground conditions, winning 2 of his 9 races on a standard surface — about 1 in every 4 and a half, which is well above his overall average. That gives the team around him a clearer picture of when to expect the best from him. Trained by P J F Murphy out of Castlecomer in County Kilkenny — a yard that has sent out 4 winners already this season — Free Solo has spent most of his career competing at Class 5 level, the grassroots end of the sport, which is where he belongs and where his wins have come.

His most recent victory came at Roscommon in August 2025, and his last six runs have produced nothing better than a seventh. Regular partner Saffie Osborne has ridden him in 10 races for just the one win, though that probably says more about where Free Solo is in his career than about the rider. He races frequently and was out just one day ago, which at nine years old suggests a horse who simply loves being in the game.

There is something quietly admirable about a horse who is still turning up, still placing, still finding his way to the winner's enclosure on the right day. Free Solo is not going to win a big race, but take him to Lingfield on normal ground and you would be unwise to write him off.