Dr Rio

Trained by Declan Carroll out of Malton in North Yorkshire, Dr Rio sits in a yard that has sent out 22 winners already this season, so there's plenty of confidence in the operation. His most frequent partner in the saddle is Zak Wheatley, and their record together is worth noting: 4 wins from 25 races, meaning they click roughly once in every six rides. That's a meaningful partnership for a horse competing mostly at Class 6 level, where the margins are fine and familiarity counts for a lot.

What the ground is like matters to Dr Rio more than most. On fast, dry ground he wins roughly 1 in every 6 races — 3 from 17 — but switch to normal conditions and that improves sharply to 3 wins from just 11 races, or 1 in every 4. He also appears to enjoy stepping up in distance, with his best numbers coming over a mile and six furlongs to two miles, where he has won 2 from 8 — a 25% hit rate that suggests the longer the trip, the more he has to offer.

His recent form reads 3-4-5-5-1-6 from his last six races, and buried in that sequence is a win just last August — back at Beverley, naturally. He raced just one day ago, so Dr Rio is firmly in action right now, still competing in his tenth year. With a career win rate of around 1 in every 8 races overall, he's never been the most prolific, but horses that own a track the way he owns Beverley have a habit of making headlines there long after anyone expected them to.