Happy Chandler

What makes that Leicester win worth noting is the context. Happy Chandler had run 10 times at the level it typically competes at without winning once — 0 from 10 — which suggests it has spent much of its career finding at least one rival too good on the day. Getting off the mark at the fifth attempt in its sixth year of racing is the kind of result that matters more for confidence than prize money, and the timing is interesting: recent form reads 5th, 6th, 4th, then two seconds and a win, which looks very much like a horse building steadily toward something.

Michael Blake, based in Trowbridge in Wiltshire, has sent out two winners this season. That is a small yard doing solid, patient work rather than turning out winners in volume, and Happy Chandler's breakthrough contributes meaningfully to that tally. The horse raced just one day ago and is clearly in an active spell, which suggests the team is keen to make the most of a horse that appears to be hitting a purple patch. Whether Happy Chandler can back it up remains to be seen, but the trajectory over its last six runs — improving steadily from mid-pack finishes to consecutive places and then a win — is exactly the kind of form pattern that keeps trainers hopeful and punters interested.