Westerton

Since then, though, the story has been one of searching for that level again. Westerton has not won in his last 26 races since that Sandown success — now three years ago — and across his whole career he has won just once from 26 races, a win rate of roughly 1 in every 26. Nine places suggest he is competitive enough to be thereabouts, but "thereabouts" and "winning" are very different things in horse racing. He is now six years old and trained by Jennie Candlish at her yard in Basford, Staffordshire — a trainer who has sent out 61 winners this season, so she clearly knows how to get a horse ready to win.

What makes Westerton's profile a little complicated is the hint of a new direction. Candlish has been exploring jumping with him, and after an inauspicious hurdles debut — where jockey Tom Cannon reported that the horse simply ran out of steam — she remained upbeat, noting that he "murders everything at home" and that the track work simply cannot prepare him for the real thing. She plans to keep him to sharper, tighter tracks for now and believes there is more to come over jumps. His flat record at the distance he handles best — around a mile and a couple of furlongs — shows 1 win from 7 races, a 14% win rate, which is genuinely respectable. But whether that translates when he switches discipline is the open question. Westerton is a horse with one extraordinary afternoon in his back pocket, and the people around him clearly believe there are more good days ahead.