Berkshire Boom

From three races in total, Berkshire Boom has one win and one place, which works out at winning 1 in every 3 races — a solid return for a young horse still finding its feet. The recent form figures of 7-1-8, however, tell a more complicated story. That middle figure is the Chester win, sandwiched between two performances where the horse finished well down the field. It suggests Berkshire Boom is a horse with clear ability on its day, but one that hasn't yet found the consistency to back it up race after race.

The trainer is Andrew Balding, who operates out of Kingsclere in Hampshire and is having a remarkable season — 202 winners sent out already, which is the kind of output that marks out one of the genuinely leading yards in the country. That level of operation means Balding and his team know exactly what they are doing with young horses, and the fact that Berkshire Boom was placed at Chester suggests the win was no fluke. How the team chooses to map out the rest of this horse's season will be worth watching.