Groundsman

The numbers are modest but not without a story. Groundsman wins roughly 1 in every 17 races overall, which is a tough return, but zoom in on his record at the level he typically competes at — the bread-and-butter end of the sport — and it looks a little sharper: 1 win from 7 races at that tier works out at about 14%, or roughly 1 in 7, which is a more respectable conversion rate. The difference between those two figures suggests he has occasionally been asked to compete at a level above his comfort zone, which is worth keeping in mind.

His recent form reads 8-3-6-3-1-5 going back through his last six races. That winning run is right there in the middle of it — the 1 — sandwiched between a couple of third-place finishes either side, which hints at a horse that was genuinely in form around that period. The most recent outing, just yesterday, produced an eighth-place finish, so the momentum from that good patch has faded somewhat.

Groundsman is trained by Mark Loughnane at Rock Farm in Worcestershire, a yard that has sent out 25 winners this season — a solid, productive operation. Loughnane clearly knows how to place his horses to win races, so the fact that Groundsman has managed only one victory in 16 attempts suggests this particular horse keeps the team guessing. Whether he can recapture the form that brought him that Wolverhampton win remains the question. He is only four, there is time yet, and a yard firing at this rate will be looking for any opportunity to get him back in the winner's circle.