Harry Bannister

The highlight reel already includes two top-level wins, at Huntingdon and Haydock Park. Getting your hands on a Class 1 prize means beating the best horses in Britain on the day, and doing it twice in four years tells you Bannister can handle the big occasion without freezing. Those are the races people remember, and they tend to open doors.

His most reliable relationship is with trainer Richard J Bandey, and the numbers there are genuinely striking. From 65 rides together they have won 11 races — that's a win rate of 17%, or roughly 1 in every 6. In a sport where combinations can take years to click, that kind of consistency between a jockey and a yard suggests real understanding of how the horses are being prepared and what they need on race day.

Two conditions bring out the best in Bannister. When the rain comes and the ground turns wet and muddy, he has won 6 from 29 races — around 1 in every 5, comfortably better than his overall average. Some jockeys lose confidence when conditions deteriorate; Bannister seems to find another gear. Then there is Plumpton, the tight, turning track on the South Downs, where he has won 6 races from just 15 rides. That's 2 in every 5 — the kind of record that makes trainers pick up the phone when they have a runner there.

One partnership that hasn't clicked yet is with Miss Kassiopi, where three races together have produced no wins. Not every combination works, and three races is too small a sample to draw conclusions — but it stands out as the one noticeable blank in an otherwise encouraging career so far.