Iron Bridge

His overall record tells its own story: 5 wins and 13 places from 21 races, a win rate of 24%, meaning he has won roughly 1 in every 4 races he has ever entered. What makes that number more impressive is the context — he rarely runs and picks his spots. Jockey Jonjo O'Neill Jr, who knows him better than most after 16 races together, has described him as a horse with a grand temperament who will stay all day at three miles. He also has, in O'Neill Jr's words, "a touch of class" — the kind of phrase a jockey only uses when he genuinely means it.

The wet ground angle is key to understanding Iron Bridge. On soft or muddy going, he has won 2 of 5 races — a 40% win rate that is almost double his overall average. The trainer has been clear on this point too: soft-ground staying races are where this horse belongs. When the forecast turns grey and the ground gets heavy, Iron Bridge becomes a different proposition entirely.

His record at Haydock Park is quietly remarkable. Two wins from just four visits means he has won half his races there, and his most recent came just this week — proof that the course suits him in a way that is more than coincidence. It is the kind of attachment between a horse and a track that is hard to explain but impossible to ignore.

The yard behind him, trained by Jonjo and A J O'Neill in Cheltenham, has sent out 51 winners this season — a serious operation firing on all cylinders. Iron Bridge, lightly raced for his age and physically maturing according to those who work with him, looks like a horse with more to give. At 10, some horses are winding down. This one appears to be just getting started.