Epidavros

Her two wins both came in the autumn of 2024, first at Carlisle in September and then at Hamilton Park a couple of weeks later, and both arrived at Class 5 level — the bread-and-butter tier of British racing. At that level she has won 2 from 11 races, which works out at roughly 1 in every 5 or 6 attempts. That is a respectable return for the grade, and it tells you she belongs there and can win there. The problem is that nothing has landed since September 2024 — now nearly twenty months ago — despite six races in recent form that have all ended in fourth place or worse.

The most interesting detail about Epidavros, though, is what her trainer Katie Scott says about her. Scott, who runs a small but productive yard in the Scottish Borders and has sent out 17 winners already this season, is quite clear: this horse likes rain. She has been placed twice at good tracks this summer, including second in a fillies' race at Musselburgh, but Scott's view is that the real Epidavros arrives in September and October when the ground turns wet and soft. That is a genuinely useful piece of information. Plenty of horses perform well in good conditions and struggle in mud, but a horse that actually improves when the weather turns is a rare and valuable thing — particularly in Scotland, where soft ground is never far away.

Her most productive partnership is with jockey P J McDonald, who has ridden her to both of her career wins in 8 races together. That is 2 wins from 8 — 25%, or 1 in every 4 rides — which is a striking number. When McDonald is in the saddle and the autumn rain arrives, Epidavros is a horse worth watching closely.