Ray Mon Dough

Trained by Oliver Cole at Whatcombe in Oxfordshire, Ray Mon Dough comes from a yard that has been in decent form, sending out 8 winners so far this season. Cole is not one of the sport's headline names, but a trainer quietly producing winners from a base in the Oxfordshire countryside is exactly the kind of operation that can spring surprises. The fact that Ray Mon Dough raced as recently as yesterday suggests the team see the horse as fit, ready, and worth keeping busy.

The Lingfield win in November was the foundation everything else is built on, and with only three races under its belt, there is still a lot we don't yet know about this horse. What we do know is that it has never finished out of the first three — a tidy record for any horse, let alone one still finding its feet as a three-year-old. Whether it can step up and reproduce that winning form is the next question worth watching.