Velvet Rhythm

Consistency is the word here. Every single one of Velvet Rhythm's four races has produced a top-four finish, which for a three-year-old still finding its feet is genuinely encouraging. Plenty of horses this age disappear down the field while they work things out; Velvet Rhythm has not had that problem once.

The trainer is Charlie Johnston, operating out of Middleham Moor in North Yorkshire, and the yard is having a serious season — 128 winners already, which is the kind of output that tells you this is not a small operation getting lucky. Johnston's team know how to place young horses in the right races at the right time, and the fact that Velvet Rhythm is already on the board at Newmarket — one of the most prestigious and competitive tracks in Britain — suggests this horse has been given every opportunity to show what it can do.

With only four races in the book, Velvet Rhythm is still very much a story being written. But a debut year that includes a Newmarket win and four finishes of third or better is a solid foundation for whatever comes next.