Julian Smith

The one area where a genuine pattern is starting to emerge is on wet or muddy ground. Smith has won 1 from just 4 races in those conditions — that's 1 in every 4, a rate that would be the envy of trainers twice his experience. It's a small sample, and you wouldn't bet the house on it, but it suggests Smith either has a feel for placing horses when the ground gets soft, or his yard suits horses that handle wet conditions well. Worth watching as autumn comes around.

At four years in, Smith is still at the stage where every winner matters and every lesson counts. The trainers who eventually make their mark at this level are usually the ones who find a small edge — a track they understand, a type of horse they click with, a set of conditions that suits their string — and build outward from there. For Smith, wet ground might just be that edge.