Bernard Llewellyn

The most encouraging sign is what has happened in the last two weeks. One winner from 8 runners gives a win rate of around 12% — double his season average. Trainers talk about yards "coming alive" when everything clicks into place: the horses are fit, the targets are right, and the results start flowing. That is what the recent numbers hint at, and it is the kind of form that makes the next few weeks worth following closely.

One area where Llewellyn genuinely stands out is on very wet, muddy ground. His record there reads 3 wins from 18 races, which works out at 17% — roughly 1 in every 6. Across racing as a whole, most trainers struggle to hit 10% on the worst of the ground, so this is a meaningful edge. It suggests his horses are prepared and selected with real care when the conditions deteriorate, and it is the sort of detail a shrewd punter would keep in their back pocket through the winter months.

His most-used jockey partnership is with Elizabeth Gale, who has ridden 18 times for the yard and turned in 2 winners — an 11% win rate, nearly double the yard's overall average. That kind of above-average return from a repeated partnership usually means there is trust and communication on both sides, with Gale likely riding regularly at morning exercise and understanding how these horses need to be ridden. Meanwhile, the horse Shipshape has provided 1 win from 3 races together — a partnership still in its early stages but one that has already delivered.

Llewellyn is not yet a household name, and with 36 career winners he would be the first to admit the big prizes are still ahead of him. But the upward curve is real, and the wet-ground numbers alone mark him out as someone worth keeping an eye on.