Witch Hunter

Hannon's yard at Herridge in Wiltshire has sent out 118 winners this season alone, so Witch Hunter is operating within one of Britain's busiest and most successful training operations. His regular jockey Sean Levey has ridden him 22 times and won on 3 of those occasions — roughly 1 in every 7 rides together — which is a solid return for a horse who, by Hannon's own admission, misses the start almost every time. The trick is to drop him out, let the field come back to him, and trust that momentum will do the rest. When it clicks, it really clicks. When it doesn't, you finish 15th and wonder why you bothered.

The numbers that stand out most are at Wolverhampton and Newcastle. At Wolverhampton he has won 2 of just 4 races — a remarkable 50% record — and at Newcastle's all-weather track he has won twice in the last five months, both at Class 2 level, which means he's mixing it with some genuinely useful horses. His best performances have come on normal ground, where he has won 4 of his 16 races on that surface — 25%, which is a very healthy return. That matters because Hannon has flagged Royal Ascot as the target this summer, and Ascot in June tends to provide exactly those conditions.

Recent form shows a fourth-place finish and then a scatter of mid-pack results, but Hannon is relaxed about it, noting that his last run — just yesterday — saw him finish full of running with nowhere to go. For a horse with six wins, two at the sport's highest level, and a trainer who believes a big handicap at Royal Ascot is genuinely within reach, Witch Hunter is the kind of horse you file away and check back on when the big summer festivals arrive.