Karakula Dancer

The most striking thing in the numbers is what happens when Karakula Dancer races over a mile and one or two furlongs — essentially the middle-distance trips where a horse needs a mix of speed and stamina to stay competitive. Over those distances, the record reads 3 wins from 8 races, or a win rate of 38 per cent. Winning more than a third of your races at any distance is genuinely impressive, and it tells you clearly that Ferguson has found where this horse belongs.

The recent form makes for interesting reading too. In the last six races — finishing most recently first — the sequence reads 5, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1. Two wins bookending four other competitive runs, the latest of those victories coming at Wolverhampton just seven weeks ago in early April. The first career win came at Lingfield Park back in January, so Karakula Dancer has gone from breaking its duck to winning again within a matter of months — a clear sign of a horse improving with experience.

One quirk worth noting is the partnership with regular jockey Jonny Peate, who has ridden Karakula Dancer five times without a win together. That is not necessarily a red flag — horses and jockeys can simply fail to click even when both are perfectly capable — but it is a curious subplot given how well the horse has performed overall. The two wins in the last six races have come, by definition, on occasions when something clicked that hadn't before.

Raced just one day ago and still very much active, Karakula Dancer is a three-year-old in form, trained by a yard firing on all cylinders, and clearly at home over middle distances. The pieces are in place for more of the same.