Akabusi

What makes Akabusi interesting is not consistency but rather the conditions that suit him. On normal ground, he is genuinely competent: two wins from five races means he wins 40 percent of the time when the going is standard, a significant step up from his overall win rate. He clearly prefers ground that is neither too soft nor too firm, and any trainer worth their salt would be noting that preference carefully. His last win came at Newmarket on 15 May, three months ago now, when conditions were presumably in his favour.

He races mostly at Class 5 level — the lower echelons of British racing — where he has managed two wins from ten attempts. His yard, Mike Murphy's operation at Westoning in Bedfordshire, is doing respectable business this season with 15 winners overall, so there is reasonable support behind him. Akabusi has shown he can get his head in front: he broke his duck at Nottingham on his fifteenth race, and he has clearly found a couple of occasions since when everything has aligned. The challenge now is whether he can string together another winning run or whether those gaps between victories will keep stretching. With normal ground conditions, he has a genuine chance.