'It took me two years to realise you weren't destined for greatness' - the cliff horses our experts simply can't give up on

It is easy to become attached to horses. The joy of the handicap system means a win could be just around the corner if you keep the faith, but that faith is often tested. Our experts share their cliff horses and the stories they have created along the way, following on from Chris Cook's choice in Monday's Front Runner.

Sugarpiehoneybunch

Richard Birch, tipster

You know that I love you. I can’t help myself.

I backed her at 15-2 each-way at Catterick on April 3. The starting price was 9-4 and she finished fourth, having been given far too much to do. I lost my entire stake.

I backed her at 10-3 win-only at Catterick on April 24. She found more traffic congestion than motorists endeavouring to reach Bournemouth on a hot summer’s day and finished fourth.

I backed her at 12-1 each-way at Catterick on April 30. The SP was 15-2, she again found trouble at a critical time, and finished seventh. With any sort of clear run she would have been third.

I backed her at 7-2 win-only at Catterick on May 31. The SP was 2-1, Lord Torranaga got first run, and she finished second.

I backed her at 9-2 each-way at Pontefract on June 10. She drifted out to 12-1 before shortening to 17-2 on the off, and proceeded to pull ridiculously hard prior to finishing sixth.

Here the story ends.

Might I

David Jennings, deputy Irish editor

Myself and Might I broke up a while ago now. It will be two years in March. We went our separate ways after the final race of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival, after he tanked into contention in the Martin Pipe, grabbed the sacred stands' side rail and hit a low of 2-1 in-running on Betfair. 

Off a beautiful ceiling mark of 145, the festival closer was in the palm of his hand and I was on at 16-1. He went off 6s. 

Alas, he started doing his party piece of running up and down on the one spot. He finished fourth. He had more than enough ability to finish first. 

Might I (left) was a good novice, but had the misfortune to bump into Constitution Hill and JonbonCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Might I sucked me in right from the very start, the day he won a Warwick bumper on debut despite pulling Lorcan Murtagh's arms out most of the way. When he won his novice hurdle at Newton Abbot on hurdling debut, he beat the subsequent 156-rated chaser Thunder Rock by 11 lengths. 

He went from there to a novice hurdle at Sandown where I told a mate he was the best 6-4 shot we might ever see in our lifetime. Might I was a Grade 1 horse and, unless some yoke making his debut for Nicky Henderson was well above average, he would surely win doing handstands. And, the Seven Barrows representative couldn't even win his point-to-point so I wasn't too worried. 

Might I breezed to the front in between the final two flights that day at Sandown, traded at almost 4-6 in-running and looked home and hosed. It turns out he was trying to give a couple of pounds to the best hurdler I've ever clapped eyes on. 

You could forgive him that, and finishing an unlucky third to Jonbon in a Grade 2 novice hurdle at Haydock and what a run it was next time in a Grade 1 at Aintree's Grand National meeting when he was second to Three Stripe Life. 

As a half-brother to the relentless stayer Stattler, I thought he might win the Stayers' Hurdle the following season and put him up as my first ante-post selection on Upping The Ante for that. What an idiot. 

He didn't stay 3m in the Betfair Exchange Stayers' Handicap Hurdle on his seasonal reappearance, you could forgive him that. Then he went down by a neck on Trials day in a 2m1f handicap hurdle, you could forgive him that too. But the Martin Pipe was unforgivable. 

We did get back together for a brief moment after he crashed into two of the last three fences at Newton Abbot and would have beaten Complete Unknown if he didn't. It was like he was sending me a late-night text. 

I fancied him to win a Grade 2 novice chase at Ascot just before Christmas on the back of that promising effort, but he ran an absolute stinker and that, ladies and gentleman, was that. We were done. 

And, thank heavens it ended for good when it did. He has since ran at Cheltenham again, Aintree and Haydock, and showed about as much enthusiasm for the game as I do when my wife throws up a big bowl of broccoli in front of me. 

Ah, Might I. We'll always have Newton Abbot. The day of that novice hurdle in 2021 when I thought you were destined for greatness. It took me just over two years to realise you weren't. They were an expensive two years.

Mr Wagyu

Tom Park, audience editor

The summer of 2021 was a summer of love. I got married in August, but it was the beginning of a love affair with Mr Wagyu that really stole my heart that year.

Like all love affairs, it started hot. Five wins from nine starts, cumulating in a 16-1 win in the Stewards' Cup consolation at Glorious Goodwood. Mr Wagyu had me hooked. Good runs in the Portland, the Ayr Gold Cup and a couple of decent sprints at York followed and Mr Wagyu had promoted himself to one of my favourite horses in training.

Mr Wagyu: had a remarkably hot summer of 2021Credit: Mark Cranham

2022 was not too shabby either. A 12-1 win at Epsom was followed by a fourth in the Wokingham and a win at the Curragh. My wife and I were discussing names for if we got a second dog. My wife wanted to call it Denman (our labrador is called Kauto), I suggested Mr Wagyu!

However, we were about to hit some bumps in the road. Well, 24 of them in fact. Twenty-four losses in a row and counting has left me considering whether it was all worth it. 

Could it be that Mr Wagyu simply liked the months of June and July best? I read out a stat on the Racing Postcast last year saying every one of Mr Wagyu's 15 wins came in those months. He was 15 from 30 (50 per cent strike-rate) in June and July and none from 43 in other months. If you'd had a tenner on every run in those two months you'd have made £835.60.

Since I pulled out that stat, Mr Wagyu has won none of his seven subsequent starts in June and July. He's gone close though. Two seconds (an agonising one at Epsom on Derby day) and a third in his last three starts, and he is looking well handicapped. He is entered at Hamilton on Friday and the Curragh on Saturday and I think he's going to win. Will I ever learn?

Chesspiece

Graeme Rodway, deputy betting editor

I remain convinced that his length second behind Middle Earth in last season's Noel Murless at Ascot is top-class form because the winner is now on the fringe of Group 1 class and Chesspiece was giving him 3lb. 

He also pulled five and a half lengths clear of the rest. But how many more chances can I give him to repeat it?

I thought he may have been in need of the run first time up at Newbury and the Crisford horses weren't firing on all cylinders when he finished tailed off in the Henry II Stakes at Sandown, so I gave him a pass for that too.

Chesspiece (left) chased home Middle Earth last October but has not fired this seasonCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

However, there was nothing wrong with the form of his stable on Saturday – in fact the Crisford team were flying – and yet Chesspiece again went out tamely to finish tailed off again.

There is a good horse lurking in there somewhere, but he is finishing his races incredibly weakly. I have no doubt the Crisford team will rectify that and he will come right at some point, but I'm starting to lose patience.

Bless Him

Harry Wilson, tipster

Bless Him is right up there with my favourite horses in training and, even if I fancy something else in a race he’s in, I find myself swayed to have a little bit each-way on him, just in case.

His hold-up tactics mean he’s a hostage to fortune and I wouldn’t like to count the amount of times ‘denied a clear run’ must have featured in his analysis, but he’s a classy animal when he gets a clear shot at things – and, ideally, a strong pace on a straight track.

He tested my patience on a few occasions last season, with defeat in the Bunbury Cup, and especially a Newmarket handicap in September, a little hard to take, but he produced a cracking effort to go down by just a neck in the Victoria Cup at Ascot in May and now looks very dangerous off the same mark.

He didn’t see any daylight until the race was over in the Bunbury Cup on Saturday but finished with his usual rattle, and it would be nice to think he could have one last hurrah in the International at Ascot in two weeks’ time – weather and draw permitting – over a course and distance that suits him so well.

Read these next:

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Runaway Swinton winner and 'horse of a lifetime' Pickanumber sold to race in the US where he runs in a Grade 1 on Wednesday 

The Front Page: Is this racing's Drive To Survive?  

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