Simon Hodgson

The most telling sign of progress is what has happened to his win rate. Last year he was winning 1 in every 20 races his horses ran. This season that has improved to 8 winners from 104 runners — roughly 1 in every 13 — a meaningful jump that suggests the yard is not just getting bigger but getting sharper. In a training profession where margins are tight and patience is tested constantly, that kind of improvement in year four is exactly what you want to see.

If you want to understand what Hodgson does best, look at his record on normal ground conditions. Seven wins from 45 races — winning 16% of the time, or nearly 1 in every 6 — tells you his horses are trained to perform when conditions are fair. That is a significantly better return than his overall numbers, and it hints at a trainer who prepares his string for racing at its most straightforward rather than gambling on extremes.

The partnership with Alistair Rawlinson is one of the more productive jockey-trainer combinations at this level. Seven wins from just 31 rides together works out at roughly 1 in every 4-and-a-half races — a 23% win rate that stands well above the yard's overall figures. When those two are teaming up, it is worth paying attention.

Then there is Twilight Madness. Seven wins from 48 races together makes this horse Hodgson's most reliable ally — a partnership that has clearly been central to everything the yard has built so far. For a trainer still finding his range, having one horse you can genuinely rely on is invaluable. Twilight Madness has essentially been the foundation on which Hodgson's early reputation rests, and that kind of loyalty between yard and horse is what the best training careers are often built around.