Rob Hornby

Those 16 Class 1 victories tell a story in themselves. These are the races that matter most in Britain, the ones that attract the best horses and the sharpest competition. Hornby has won them at Newmarket, Newbury, Sandown Park, and Ascot — essentially a tour of the sport's most iconic venues. A Class 1 win at Ascot in October 2025 and another at Newmarket in May of the same year showed he is capable of performing when the lights are brightest, and in the biggest company.

His partnership with trainer Jonathan Portman is worth paying attention to. From 156 races together they have produced 25 wins — roughly 1 in every 6 rides — which is meaningfully better than his season-wide average. When a jockey and trainer click like that, it tends to be because they share a read on horses: when to push, when to wait, when to trust the horse. Twenty-five wins from 156 races is not a coincidence; it is a working relationship that functions.

If you want a single number that captures how well Hornby is riding right now, it is this: in the last two weeks he has won 7 races from just 32 rides. That is a win rate of roughly 1 in every 4 — nearly double his season average. Form like that, in sport as in most things, tends to feed on itself. He is confident, and it shows. Newcastle in particular has been something of a stronghold, where he has turned 7 of his 12 rides into wins — a remarkable return that suggests he reads that track unusually well, or has found particularly good horses to ride there, or both.

Four years in, 316 career winners, and a recent purple patch that would make any jockey feel invincible. Hornby is worth watching.