Tom Clover

This season the numbers show a slight dip — 23 winners from 203 runners, which works out at roughly 1 in every 9 races, down from closer to 1 in every 7 last year. That is worth watching but not worrying about yet. Volume and quality don't always move in the same direction, and Clover's record at the top level shows he picks his spots well. One place worth noting is Windsor, where he has sent out 3 winners from just 14 runners — a return that any trainer would be pleased with at a track some yards treat as an afterthought.

When the ground turns wet and muddy, his horses have won 2 of their last 8 races in those conditions — a 25% return that is well above his overall average, and the kind of edge that punters with long memories tend to file away. It hints at a yard that may be quietly well-suited to wet autumn campaigns.

His most reliable jockey partnership is with Jack Mitchell, who has ridden 8 winners from 49 visits — winning roughly 1 in every 6 rides for the stable. That is a productive, trust-based relationship built over real volume. The combination with Lara Antipova is thinner on data — 1 win from 3 races together — but the fact that she has been aboard at all suggests Clover is willing to work with more than one top rider when the horse suits.

Four years, five top-level wins, and a growing book of evidence that this is not a trainer who got lucky once and faded. The slight softening in this season's numbers is the one thing to keep an eye on, but the bigger picture is of someone building steadily and already competing at the highest level British racing has to offer.