S Michael Millar

The most regular partnership in his operation is with jockey Aileen O'Sullivan, who has ridden 11 times for the yard without a win to show for it. That kind of repeated collaboration without reward is a sign of loyalty and belief on both sides, but it also underlines how the results simply haven't come together yet.

There is a small but telling detail worth noting: last year Millar's win rate sat at 3%, which works out at roughly 1 winner in every 33 races. That modest figure has now slipped to zero this season. The difference between 3% and 0% might not sound dramatic, but in practical terms it means the yard has gone from occasionally breaking through to drawing a complete blank — and that shift in momentum matters. Racing is a sport where confidence and cash flow are closely linked, and a long winless run makes both harder to maintain.

At four years in, Millar is still in the early stages of building a training career, and it would be unfair to read too much into a single difficult season. Every established trainer has been through spells like this. The question now is whether the runners start converting — because the raw material, in terms of horses going to the track regularly, is clearly there.