Willing Wicksey
Tue 30 Jun 2026
Winner 78 of 2026: WICKSEY, trained by Ben Haslam and ridden by Richie McLernon. The ‘Watch On Racing TV Juvenile Hurdle’ over 2m½ f at Stratford.
What an incredibly servant Wicksey has become since his move to Middleham. Our son of Expert Eye has not just won three races on the bounce in the winter, but picked up the February AW bonus in the process and finished a good 2nd on his penultimate start on the turf to our very own Gaelic Approach.
Now he’s a four-time winner, including a first success over the obstacles on his hurdling debut.
Despite Wicksey’s inexperience over the first few hurdles, he made some good shapes mid-race, carefully guided by his much more experienced rider Richie McLernon.
He briefly lost his action when it got tight around the final bend, with the horses left in contention fighting for positions, but he quickly recovered, boxed his way through the field to lead over the final hurdle before his incredible attitude and tenacity saw him pull clear to win by 2 ¼ lengths. A huge well done to his owners and the whole team at Ben Haslam’s for keeping him in such great form.
Watch the full race replay: https://www.racingtv.com/results/2026-06-29/stratford-on-avon/1410
Timeform rated his hurdling success with a 92+: "Fair up to 1¾m on the Flat, overcame inexperience and a couple of other obstacles to make a successful start in this sphere, superior stamina helping him to come out on top; waited with, jumped right throughout (mistake third), headway when hampered 2 out, stumbled home turn, upsides last, stayed on to lead final 1f; he's entitled to progress but needs to learn from this."
To view and purchase the official winning pictures, please follow the link below:
https://www.sdphotos.co.uk/view/ (Will show here when uploaded)