Emperor Caradoc

Paul Midgley trains him out of Westow in North Yorkshire, and this is a yard in form — 39 winners already this season, which tells you Midgley knows how to have a horse ready to run. His insight on Emperor Caradoc is telling: he thinks the horse is better in a smaller field, where he can put himself up front and dictate. He ran at York but the company there was probably just too sharp for him. He's also noted to travel better over six furlongs than five, meaning the extra distance gives him time to find his rhythm rather than having to be at full throttle from the off.

The ground stats are genuinely interesting. On fast, dry ground he's won 3 from 7 — that's 43%, nearly wins almost half his races in those conditions. On wet or muddy ground it drops to 2 from 8, but 25% is still a perfectly respectable return. The real message is that he handles most conditions, which makes him a versatile and reliable option for the yard to target races across the season.

David Nolan rides him most regularly and the pair have a strong understanding — 3 wins from 11 races together works out at 27%, which means they win more than 1 in every 4 times they team up. That's an above-average partnership worth noting. Almost all of Emperor Caradoc's wins — five of his six — have come at Class 5 level, which is where he belongs and where he's competitive. He opened his account at Redcar back in October 2021 and has been a steady presence since. Not flashy, not famous, but still winning races at seven years old and racing just yesterday. Some horses just keep showing up, and this is one of them.