Valiant Force

The headline moment came on 22 June 2023, when Valiant Force won a Class 1 race at Ascot — one of the top races in Britain, and fittingly the horse's first-ever career win. Landing your debut victory at the highest level, at one of the most famous tracks in the world, is a remarkable way to announce yourself. It showed from the very beginning that this was no ordinary horse.

Since then, Valiant Force has settled into a comfortable rhythm, particularly excelling back at Dundalk. The most recent win there came on 6 February 2026 — just three months ago — and with the horse having raced as recently as yesterday, it is very much still a live force. Recent form reads 9-10-5-1-5-1, which tells an interesting story: the two wins bookend a patch of quieter runs, suggesting the horse can go cold for a stretch before snapping back to its best.

David Egan has been the regular partner in the saddle, riding Valiant Force in 13 of its 23 races and winning 2 of them — roughly 1 in every 6 rides together, or 15%. That's not a spectacular ratio, but the partnership has lasted long enough to suggest there's a level of trust between horse and rider. Behind the scenes, trainer Robson De Aguiar runs the operation from Mullingar in County Westmeath, and the yard has been in fine form this season with 11 winners already on the board.

What makes Valiant Force genuinely interesting is that rare combination: a big-occasion winner who also has a track it treats like a local pub. Dundalk clearly suits it, and with yesterday's run suggesting the team are keeping it busy, another trip around that familiar circuit could produce a sixth win there before long.