King David

His best form comes over seven furlongs to a mile, where that sole win arrived and where he's contested the bulk of his career — 16 races at that trip, producing 1 win at a 6% rate. That's a modest return, but it does at least tell you where his the yard put their faith. He competes mainly at Class 5, which is the bread-and-butter level of British racing — not the big glamour days, but competitive enough that you genuinely have to earn your wins. One win from 16 races at that level underlines how hard those wins have been to come by.

His recent form makes for mixed reading: his last six results show finishes of ninth, eighth, seventh, a blank, fourth, and second — reading backwards from most recent. He raced just yesterday, so he's clearly a busy, active horse, but the trend is pointing in the wrong direction, with those placings giving way to mid-field finishes in the latest runs. Jockey Harry Davies has partnered him six times without a win between them, though it's worth noting the pair simply haven't managed to recreate what worked at Kempton that September day.

Trainer Gay Kelleway, based at Exning in Suffolk, has sent out two winners this season from her yard. She's a trainer with a story of her own — a former jockey who made history as the first woman to ride a winner at Royal Ascot — and King David is one of the yard's workhorses, kept busy and competitive at a solid level. The question for him is whether that Kempton win was a peak moment or a sign of what's possible on the right day. At 4% from 24 races, the honest answer is he's a horse who places more than he wins — but he keeps turning up, which counts for something.