In The Air

Take his recent form. In his last six races, he has won three of them, including a victory at Wetherby just this week on 14 October. Before that came a second-place finish, suggesting he was in good order. When Alastair Ralph's Bridgnorth yard took him on this summer from Adam West, the horse responded immediately—two wins in his first two runs, both of them with weight increases thrown at him to make the task harder each time. That tells you something: he was ready to run, and he improved for the change of scenery. Ralph, whose yard has sent out 25 winners this season, clearly knew what he had.

In The Air has a real affinity for normal ground conditions. He has won 6 of 13 races when the going is standard, a win rate of 46 percent—nearly half the time he runs on a dry, normal track, he wins. He is also a specialist at Stratford-on-Avon, where he has won twice from five races. When you put him in the right conditions and the right place, he delivers. Ciaran Gethings, his most frequent partner in the saddle, has ridden him 9 times and won 3 of those races, a win rate of 33 percent. They clearly work well together. The one area where he has struggled is in the top class—he has won just 2 of 11 races at Class 3 level, suggesting his ceiling is competitive but not elite. Still, for a yard in Shropshire and a jockey like Gethings, this is a genuine asset: a horse that wins regularly, travels well, and knows how to do his job.