Valentine Catcher

That potential was first spotted on a wet day at Redcar in October 2023, when Valentine Catcher announced itself with a debut win on heavy, muddy ground. Jockey David Allan — who has ridden the horse in 7 of its 19 races, winning once — admitted afterwards that he had not expected things to go so smoothly. The horse was slow out of the stalls, a little green and unsure of itself, yet still travelled well and won with something in reserve. "There's obviously plenty of potential there," Allan said, and Easterby was impressed enough to start thinking bigger.

By the spring of 2024, Easterby was eyeing a prestigious race at York — a sign that the yard genuinely believed there was a better horse in there. He also made an intriguing point: virtually everything Valentine Catcher had done to that point had been on wet or muddy ground, simply because that was what was available. Easterby felt the horse would be more effective on faster, drier conditions — which, if true, means its record on heavy ground may actually undersell what it is capable of.

The bulk of Valentine Catcher's career has been spent in Class 4 races — solid mid-tier company — where it has won 1 from 8, or about 1 in every 8 attempts at that level. That is not a dominant record, but it is a horse racing regularly and holding its own. Easterby's yard has been in excellent form this season with 126 winners, so the support structure is there. Valentine Catcher raced just yesterday, which means it is very much an active part of the string. The question now is whether a summer of proper fast ground can finally unlock whatever it was David Allan glimpsed on that wet October afternoon at Redcar.