No News

Those two wins tell an interesting story because they both happened at the same track, Kempton Park, within three weeks of each other in December 2023 and January 2024. Two wins from 13 races at Kempton works out at roughly 1 in every 6 or 7 visits — and for a horse competing mostly at Class 6, the lowest rung of British racing, finding a track you genuinely like is no small thing. It suggests there is something about Kempton's all-weather surface that suits this horse in a way other venues simply do not.

The other key detail is the ground. No News has won both races on wet or muddy conditions, going 2 from 13 on that type of surface — roughly 1 win in every 6 or 7 runs when conditions are testing. That is a meaningful pattern. On fast, dry ground the record dries up almost completely. Add in the preference for seven furlongs to a mile — the distance range where both wins came — and you have a horse that is genuinely tricky to place but whose ideal race is not hard to describe: Kempton, wet, over a mile or just under.

The complication right now is the timing. No News has not won in its last six races and has not visited the winner's enclosure at all in 27 months. Now returning after a five-month break, there is rust to shake off. J R Jenkins, the trainer based in Royston, has sent out 8 winners this season, so the yard is in decent form. And Lewis Edmunds, who has the best record of any jockey on this horse — 2 wins from 9 rides together, roughly 1 in every 4 or 5 — is worth keeping an eye on if he takes the ride again. The pieces exist for No News to surprise someone. They just need to fall into place at the right time, at the right track, on the right kind of day.