Dubai Jeanius

The most striking number in the profile is the win rate: 6 wins from 18 races works out at 33%, or roughly 1 in every 3 races — comfortably above average for this level of competition. The recent form makes that even more impressive. In the last 6 races, Dubai Jeanius won 4 of them, finishing first, first, first, then second, then sixth, then first reading backwards from the most recent. That kind of sequence — three wins on the spin at one point — suggests a horse in the form of its life. The catch is that the most recent race was 1,056 days ago, which is roughly 35 months. That is a very long absence, and nobody watching today will have seen this horse race.

Jockey Tom Eaves has been the regular partner, riding Dubai Jeanius in 11 of its 18 races and winning 5 of them — that is a win rate of 45%, or almost 1 in every 2 rides together. That is an unusually tight partnership at this level, and when the pair click, they clearly click well. The trainer is Michael Herrington, based in Willoughton in Lincolnshire, and his yard has been in fine form this season with 33 winners sent out — a useful sign that horses returning from time off will be fit and ready to run.

Dubai Jeanius tends to race over distances around a mile and three or four furlongs, and over those trips has won 2 from 3 — two thirds of its races at that range. It competes at Class 6, which is the entry level of British racing, and wins 3 from 8 at that level, around 38% of the time. The big question hanging over everything is simply what 35 months off the track has done to a horse that was in career-best form when it last appeared. The talent is clearly there. Whether the horse that returns is the same one that left is what everyone will want to find out.