French Affair

That one win came at Newbury on 15 August 2025, and it matters where a horse wins. Newbury is one of the classier tracks in England, a wide, galloping circuit that rewards genuine ability. Winning there, even at a relatively modest level, is not nothing. The fact that it has not managed to repeat the trick in the six races since — the most recent form reading 4-5-2-4-2-3 — tells you it is finding things competitive, but those two second-place finishes show the talent is still there, just waiting.

The partnership with jockey Sean Levey is worth noting. Together they have six races and one win, a win rate of around 1 in 6, which is actually comfortably above the horse's overall average. Levey is a sharp, experienced jockey, and the fact that the team at Richard Hannon's yard keep putting him up suggests they see something they like in that combination.

Richard Hannon himself is having a fine season — 118 winners already, which is a serious operation by any measure. Based in Wiltshire, his yard churns out winners at volume, and he has a strong eye for placing horses where they can win. French Affair fits best over the shorter distances, five to six-and-a-half furlongs, where it has won 1 of 5 races, a 20% win rate. That is notably better than its overall record and points clearly to where the next win is most likely to come from. At Class 4 level it has won 1 from 3, which is a 33% win rate — the best figures in its profile by some distance, and a strong hint that when the conditions are right, this horse is genuinely competitive.

Having raced just yesterday and still active, French Affair is clearly being kept busy. A horse that places this regularly does not need much to go right before it lands another one.