Tommie Beau

Fakenham is where Tommie Beau truly comes alive. He has won 3 of his 6 races there — exactly half — which puts him in a different class to most horses who turn up at the Norfolk track. Course specialists are a real thing in racing, and Tommie Beau is one of them. His trainer Seamus Mullins, who runs a yard in Wiltshire that has sent out 10 winners already this season, clearly understands this. The team figured out relatively recently that Tommie Beau needs three miles to really show his best, and once they cracked that, the prize money followed. Owner Simon Prout has been candid about it, admitting they had been running him over the wrong distance, and says the horse has returned five times what they paid for him through winnings alone.

The horse has also shown he belongs at a decent level — two of his wins have come in Class 2 races, which puts them among the better quality contests in Britain. He won one at Cartmel in May 2024 and another at Sedgefield the previous October. His best level, though, is Class 3, where he has won 7 from 17 races — that is 41%, or close to 2 in every 5 races at that grade. That is a remarkable ratio and suggests the races are well-chosen.

Micheal Nolan is Tommie Beau's regular jockey, and the pair have an obvious understanding built over 29 races together, producing 8 wins. Their partnership did hit one bump at Cheltenham in November 2024, where Nolan was unseated in unusual circumstances, and the team have not been back since — though Mullins is now preparing the horse specifically for the Glenfarclas Chase at Cheltenham on Saturday, putting Tommie Beau through a cross-country course at Larkhill as preparation. At 11, heading to one of the biggest occasions in British racing, he remains a genuine horse to watch.