David Noonan

This season, though, has been a test of patience. Seven winners from 102 rides works out at roughly 1 in every 15 races — around 7% — and that is a slight step back from last season's 9%. The numbers are honest: he has had plenty of opportunities but has not always been able to convert them. In a sport where form and confidence feed each other, a lean run like this can be hard to shake. The question for the remainder of the season is whether he can find a way back to that earlier rhythm.

There are clear reasons to think he will. His most productive relationship is with trainer Henry Oliver, for whom he has ridden 2 winners from 20 races together — a 10% win rate, which might sound modest but is meaningfully better than his overall season average. When a trainer keeps putting a jockey up, it usually means something is working behind the scenes. Meanwhile, his partnership with Despereaux — 2 wins from 14 races together — shows he has horses that run for him when conditions fall right.

And conditions do matter with Noonan. On slightly wet ground, something clicks. He has won 2 of his 8 races in those conditions this season — 25%, or roughly 1 in every 4. That is a genuinely striking number. It suggests he either times his efforts particularly well on slower ground, or simply has access to horses that thrive in it. Either way, when the ground softens and David Noonan's name appears in the racecard, it is worth paying attention.