Finn Brickley

Over the past twelve months, Brickley has ridden 38 races and brought home 2 winners — that is roughly 1 in every 19 rides, which is a modest return but not unusual for a jockey still learning their trade. What stands out, though, is how often he is getting the leg up for Gordon Elliott's yard. Of those 38 rides, 29 have come through that partnership, and he has converted 2 of them into wins — a win rate of around 1 in every 14 for Elliott, which is meaningfully better than his overall average. That kind of regular access to a top trainer's horses is exactly what a young jockey needs, and the fact that Elliott keeps coming back to him suggests there is genuine trust being built behind the scenes.

One other number is worth paying attention to: on slightly soft ground — when there has been a bit of recent rain and the surface has some give in it — Brickley has won 1 from 8 races, which works out at 12%, or roughly 1 in every 8. That is more than double his usual rate, and while 8 races is too small a sample to draw firm conclusions, it is the kind of pattern that tends to mean something. Some jockeys just have a natural feel for horses that need that softer surface, knowing when to conserve energy and when to ask for an effort. Whether that is what is happening here remains to be seen, but it is a detail worth watching.

At two years in and with a steady flow of rides from one of the most prominent training operations around, Brickley is at exactly the