Pat Dobbs

The headline number from this season is the improvement in his win rate. Twelve months ago he was converting around 1 in every 10 rides into a winner. Now it's closer to 1 in 7. That kind of jump isn't luck — it usually means a jockey is getting better rides, riding them more smartly, or both. In Dobbs' case, it looks like all of the above.

Nine of his career wins have come at the very top level — Class 1 races, the kind that matter most in British racing — at venues including Ascot, Sandown Park and Doncaster. These are the big occasions, the ones that draw the biggest fields and the best horses, and Dobbs has shown he can deliver when it counts. That's not something every jockey on the circuit can say.

His most consistent working relationship is with trainer Doug Watson, and the numbers there are worth a look. Eleven wins from 99 rides together — just over 1 in every 9 — might not leap off the page, but in racing terms a long-running partnership that keeps producing results is a sign of genuine trust. Trainers don't keep putting a jockey up if they don't believe in them.

One detail that stands out is his record on wet ground. With only four such rides to go on, it's a small sample — but winning one of those four (that's 25%, or 1 in 4) hints at a jockey who doesn't shy away when conditions get messy. Plenty of riders struggle when the ground turns soft and the race gets physical. Dobbs, on the limited evidence available, seems to handle it well. Four years in, 144 winners, and a trajectory that is clearly pointing upward — Pat Dobbs is a name worth remembering.