Billy Bathgate

The best version of Billy Bathgate tends to appear over long distances, those marathon trips of two miles or more. Three wins from 18 races at that trip works out at 17%, or roughly 1 in every 6 races — meaningfully better than the overall career average. Add in that fast, dry ground seems to bring out the best in him — 2 wins from just 5 races on those conditions, which is 40%, or 2 in every 5 — and you have a horse with a fairly clear profile. Get him out on firm ground over a proper distance, and he becomes a different proposition.

The partnership with jockey Rowan Scott is one of the more compelling threads in this story. Three wins from 11 races together gives them a win rate of 27%, or better than 1 in every 4 — that is sharply higher than anything Billy Bathgate manages with other riders. Some horses and jockeys just click, and this looks like one of those relationships.

Behind the scenes, the operation is run by Ewan Whillans, training out of Hawick in the Scottish Borders. Twenty-eight winners sent out this season tells you this is a yard that knows what it is doing, and Billy Bathgate fits the mould of the kind of tough, reliable horse that keeps a smaller operation ticking over. Class 6 is where he competes most often — these are the bread-and-butter races at the lower end of the sport — and his four wins at that level from 37 races, around 1 in every 9, represents solid, honest work at the level he belongs.

He hasn't won in his last six races, and his last victory came at Wolverhampton back in December. But given that he raced just yesterday and is clearly still in the mix — finishing third or fourth in his recent outings — Billy Bathgate remains a horse very much in the game. On the right ground, over the right trip, with Scott in the saddle, he is far from done.