Roger Rarebit

His record of 3 wins from 22 races — roughly 1 in every 7 — is modest on paper, but the detail behind it is more interesting than the headline number suggests. His most striking quirk is his relationship with Class 4 races, which is the level he tends to be aimed at: 0 wins from 11 attempts. Not one. You might expect a horse to find his comfort zone at his most familiar grade, but Roger Rarebit has stubbornly refused to win there, finding his victories instead when conditions or company have suited him in other ways. His last win came at Warwick on New Year's Eve 2025 — a fine moment to peak — and his first career win came at Ffos Las back in January 2023, so he has kept the winning habit alive across nearly three years, even if visits to the winner's enclosure are rare.

His regular partner is jockey Stan Sheppard, and the pair have built up a genuine partnership — 16 races together, 2 wins, which works out at roughly 1 in 8. That is not a flashy number, but it speaks to continuity and trust. Tom Lacey, who trains Roger Rarebit from his yard in Woolhope in Herefordshire, has been in strong form this season with 37 winners sent out — so the operation around this horse is clearly functioning well, even if Roger Rarebit himself has been a little hard to place. When Lacey first talked about this horse, he was candid that the early priority was managing his temperament rather than chasing targets — he was a big, precocious individual who needed racing to settle his mind as much as anything else.

He has had a short break of 55 days since his last run, which for a nine-year-old is sensible rather than concerning. His recent form — a win, a second, and a couple of unplaced efforts — suggests he is still competitive when everything clicks. The puzzle for Lacey is finding the race where it clicks again.