Vince Le Prince

The six-year-old is trained by Tim Easterby at Great Habton in North Yorkshire, and he's in good hands. Easterby's yard has sent out 126 winners already this season — that's a training operation firing on all cylinders. Vince Le Prince's most regular jockey is David Allan, who has partnered him for 22 of his 42 races, winning 2 of them. That works out at roughly 1 win in every 11 rides together, which isn't a record to shout about, but Allan clearly knows this horse better than anyone.

What's quietly impressive about Vince Le Prince is that he doesn't seem to care much what the ground is like — as long as it's not somewhere in between. On dry, fast ground he wins 2 from 8 (25%), and on wet or muddy ground he wins 2 from 7 (29%). Both are healthy numbers for a horse who, at his typical level of competition, manages just 1 win from 19 races — barely 1 in 19. The ground stats suggest there's more ability here than those everyday class figures imply; he just needs the right conditions and, apparently, the right track.

His recent form reads 5-7-2-2-2-4 — meaning he hasn't won in his last six races, with his most recent effort being a fifth-place finish just yesterday. He's been finishing second three times in that run, so the performances aren't falling apart; he's just finding one or two horses too good on the day. His last win came at Catterick in October 2024, which is now 19 months ago. He's a horse who keeps turning up, keeps being competitive, and keeps waiting for everything to click. With Catterick on his CV and Easterby in his corner, it feels less like a matter of if, and more a matter of when.