Classic Maestro

The numbers tell a compelling story. He wins roughly 1 in every 3 races he enters — 8 from 22 — which is a high hit rate at Class 3 level, where the competition is meaningfully stronger than at the bottom of the ladder. His recent form reads well too: a win, a third place, and a second across his last six runs with some blanks in between, suggesting a horse that needs things to fall right but delivers when they do. His partnership with jockey Luke Scott is the engine behind much of that success — Scott has ridden him to 4 of those 8 wins from 12 races together, winning roughly 1 in every 3 times they team up, a partnership that clearly works.

Trainer Jennie Candlish, whose yard in Staffordshire has sent out 60 winners this season — a figure that marks her out as one of the more productive operations around — clearly thinks highly of him. She has described him as her trainer's pick, and has been bold enough to enter him for some significant occasions, including a potential run at Cheltenham's Grand Annual and the Topham Chase at Aintree's Grand National meeting. Those are not entries you make for a horse you are merely ticking over. The key condition is wet or muddy ground — Classic Maestro needs it soft underfoot, and the yard will target races accordingly.

His assistant trainer has noted that his jumping is his strongest weapon, describing it as foot-perfect, and has flagged that stepping up in distance to two and a half miles looks like a logical and potentially exciting next move. A horse whose best weapon is his jumping, who loves soft ground, and who is still improving at eight — that combination suggests the most interesting chapters of this story may not yet be written.