Delinquent

The key to understanding Delinquent seems to be distance. Over a mile and a furlong to a mile and two furlongs, this horse has won 2 of its 3 races — that's a two-in-three record, which is remarkable. It suggests the team have now found the trip that suits, and the back-to-back wins look less like luck and more like a trainer getting his horse into the right races at the right distance. That matters because it implies there could be more wins to come if the yard keeps targeting similar races.

That trainer is K R Burke, based at Coverham in North Yorkshire, and right now his operation is running seriously hot — 140 winners already this season. To put that in perspective, 140 winners from a single yard in one season is the kind of output that tells you this is not a small, quiet stable dabbling at the edges. Burke is one of the most productive trainers in the country at the moment, and having a horse in form within a yard in that kind of form is about as good a set of circumstances as you can ask for. Delinquent raced just one day ago, which means this profile is being written about a horse still very much in the thick of its season, with momentum behind it and a trainer who clearly knows where to place it to best effect.