Hansteen

He is trained by John and Sean Quinn, a father-and-son yard based at Norton in North Yorkshire. With 44 winners sent out already this season, this is clearly an operation in good form, and Hansteen's win adds to what has been a productive run for the team. A yard firing at that rate tends to know when a horse is ready — and Pontefract, a tight, undulating track that suits horses who travel well through a race, proved to be the right place to find out.

At just three years old and with only five races behind him, there is plenty of road still ahead. The question now is whether this week's win was a sign of a horse hitting his stride or simply a race that fell his way. Given the trajectory — steadily improving finishes leading to a placing and then a win — there are reasonable grounds for thinking Hansteen is a horse on the way up rather than one who has already peaked.