Lord Roxby

Trained by Nigel Tinkler at his yard in Langton, North Yorkshire — a team that has sent out 37 winners already this season — Lord Roxby has been a bit of a puzzle to get right. Tinkler is candid about it: the horse works brilliantly at home, but he's keen, sometimes too keen, and they've probably been running him over the wrong distance. Keenness is a real problem in racing. A horse that pulls hard and burns its energy in the early stages simply won't have enough left when the race quickens up. Getting the trip right — finding the distance where a horse's enthusiasm becomes an asset rather than a liability — is one of the trickier puzzles a trainer has to solve.

His last win came at Hamilton Park in May 2025, and before that his first career win was at Beverley in August 2024. Both are tracks known for sharp, testing layouts that suit horses with a bit of zip about them. His recent form reads 13-9-2-6-6-3 — a third place and a second in there, but nothing in the last six races. He's been running at Class 4 level for most of his career, winning just 1 from 12 at that level, which is a modest 8%, and suggests this is a horse that needs things to fall right.

Tinkler has a clear plan. Lord Roxby is rated 81, sitting just above the threshold for a race limited to horses rated 80 and under — meaning he's been racing against better horses than he needs to. A drop into one of those slightly easier races, over seven furlongs at York, could be exactly the reset he needs. Southwell is also in the picture, where the pace tends to be strong and relentless — which, paradoxically, might actually help a keen horse like this settle rather than fight the bridle. There's a race to be won with him if the jigsaw pieces come together.