L J Morgan

Part of what makes Morgan interesting is how well the horses perform when the weather turns bad. On wet or muddy ground, the record reads 4 wins from 11 races — that is 36%, or well over 1 in 3. In jump racing, soft and heavy ground separates horses that truly stay and battle from those that are just going through the motions. Morgan's horses, on the evidence, belong in the first category. Carlisle tells a similar story: 3 winners from just 8 runners at a track that plenty of yards treat as an afterthought.

The standout horse in the yard right now is Achille Des Rocs, who has won 2 of the 6 races the pair have tackled together. That might sound modest, but winning a third of the time with any one horse is a strong return, and it suggests a trainer who knows exactly what suits this particular animal and when to run it. Meanwhile, the most consistent working relationship Morgan has built is with jockey Brian Hughes, one of the most experienced jump jockeys in the north of England. Their combined record stands at 4 wins from 26 rides together — roughly 1 in every 6 — and that kind of ongoing partnership usually means a shared understanding of how the horses need to be ridden.

One hundred and four winners in four years, a win rate that has doubled in twelve months, a clear edge in testing conditions, and a home track where the runners consistently outperform expectations. Morgan is not yet a household name, but the trajectory is pointing firmly upward, and yards that improve this quickly tend to keep improving.