Adjuvant

Both of those career wins have come at Newmarket, which is striking. Two wins from five races at one track works out to winning 40% of his races there — a completely different horse to the one who has drawn a blank in 15 attempts at Class 2 level elsewhere. He clearly has an affinity with the Suffolk course that goes beyond coincidence, and his trainer Michael Bell — who is based right there in Newmarket — will know better than anyone how to exploit it.

The bigger story, though, is the ground. Bell has been refreshingly candid about the situation: Adjuvant needs wet, muddy conditions to be at his best, and this spring simply has not delivered them. The horse has effectively been waiting around for weather that never came, which goes some way to explaining why he has not won in his last six races and why his most recent finishes — a sixth, third, fourteenth, second, tenth, and fifth — read like a horse who occasionally threatens but cannot quite get everything to click. That second place finish in there shows the ability is still present.

Bell has the Northumberland Plate at the end of June in his sights — a prestigious long-distance race that Adjuvant was among the favourites for a couple of years back, finishing fifth on that occasion. Over his best trip of a mile and six furlongs to two miles, and on the kind of wet ground that the north-east in late June can sometimes provide, the picture could look very different to his recent outings. He raced just yesterday, so he is clearly fit and being kept ready for the right opportunity.

At 8% across his career — roughly one win in every 12 or 13 races — Adjuvant is not a frequent winner, but he is a horse with conditions. Find him soft ground, point him at Newmarket or a staying trip, and Michael Bell's yard clearly believes there is another good day in him yet.