THE weekends between the big festivals and Group 1 races in Britain seem to have lost a lot of the spark and attraction. And the weekend’s Juddmonte Irish Oaks also looks a one stable contest.

Indeed, we might have to wait until 5.20pm for what may be one of the highlights of the day when the filly Sparks Fly bids for her seventh win in a row at Newbury.

Such feats are rarer now and overall, it seems there are fewer horses to attract a ‘following’, even without the betting element.

Horses who become popular with the public are not always the stars, feted for their victories or brilliance.

Often our heroes in most walks of life have a few flaws or a little bit of notoriety about them. Into that category we might move Foxy Jacks.

He has spent his racing career in the care of Mouse Morris since going through the ring for £80,000 at the 2017 Goffs Land Rover Sale. He made his debut in the 2018 Goffs Land Rover Bumper, won by the Gordon Elliott-trained Commander Of Fleet and carried the colours of Dermot Desmond for his first five seasons in action. This season he runs in the colours of Rachel Carthy.

Foxy Jacks has just four wins in 39 races. But it’s not always the wins that make a popular horse. Foxy Jacks also has some letters in his form that tell a few stories.

The first U coming at the third fence on his chasing debut at Limerick wasn’t an auspicious start. Phillip Enright was again in the saddle for his Grade 2 Florida Pearl Chase outing ending with the form book comments – “in rear, bad mistake 4 out, bad mistake 3 out, pulled up before 2 out”.

Then we come to the O, F, F and U that are particularly amusing to his band of followers.

The O was at Leopardstown, in a Christmas Grade 1 novice chase. Chasing Monkfish in vain, he decided the last fence was one too many and ran out. Almost taking the photographer standing at the last with him.

He did have one of his big days when winning the Guinness Handicap Chase at the Punchestown Festival in 2021 – and at 25/1 for those who kept the faith.

He was sent for another decent pot when he lined up in the Topham Chase two years ago. All was going smoothly, he had a nice spot towards the outside, jumping well, the Chair and the big ditch were taken in stride. All well.

The fence before Becher’s doesn’t have the infamous history of the one after Becher’s but Foxy Jacks made it stand out in that 2022 Topham.

By the time the field were moving on to Becher’s, four jockeys were left on the ground. And all could point the finger at Foxy.

Jumping in the fence in the centre, he took a heavy fall and somehow managed to slide over a third of the track, to the near rail, interfering with three or four runners on his inside. Unfortunately, his rider Jonathan Moore suffered nasty injuries.

Foxy was back last season and on his agenda was the Cheltenham Cross-County Chase. Could this spell more trouble? The January renewal saw him get as far as the cheese wedges, where he jumped in but did not jump out with his rider still intact!

One more try at the Festival Cross Country this year had him recover from a bad mistake on the first circuit only to take the turn to soon after the rails and Ricky Doyle went out the side door.

Forgive him his trespasses and this new jumps season he has emerged looking better than ever.

His bold attempt for the Tote Connacht National Handicap Chase at Roscommon just failed to Stealthy Tom but he raised the cheers when holding off that horse to gain revenge in the Listed AXA Farm Insurance Midlands National Handicap Chase at Kilbeggan last Friday.

What next? Galway is a possibility with Mouse Morris saying he had a few problems but is better now.

But those little lapses and mishaps made him all the more entertaining. Who doesn’t want to be part of the Foxy fan club?