Mr Professor

What makes Mr Professor worth watching is his absolute preference for wet ground. When conditions are soft or muddy, he comes alive: he has won three of his ten races on those surfaces—a 30 per cent win rate, three times better than his overall record. That March victory at Doncaster came on just this sort of going, and the trainer's assessment afterwards made clear how much better the horse performed in the wet. The trainer also noted a significant detail: Mr Professor is the type who comes out of his races in great physical condition, suggesting he bounces back quickly and responds well to a rest between outings. Kevin Philippart De Foy's Newmarket yard backed that up by saying the horse had put on eight kilograms in the week after that Pontefract win—a sign of genuine recovery and well-being.

His regular jockey David Egan has ridden him eight times for just the one win, a modest record that hints at the difficulty of getting the best out of him. Most of Mr Professor's races have come in Class 2 company, where he has managed only one win from thirteen attempts—a tough ask at that level. What remains clear, though, is that on a day when the ground turns soft and everything aligns, this seven-year-old can still deliver. The wait for his next win may be long, but it is not impossible.