Kokanee

Trainer Ed Dunlop, based at Newmarket, has spotted something in Kokanee that extends beyond the bare statistics. Dunlop sees a genuinely imposing horse—a tall, powerfully built son of Kameko with the physique of a stayer—and reckons he'll improve as the season unfolds. The trainer's comment that Kokanee won at Beverley "despite doing everything wrong," distracted by grass slits and clearly not at his sharpest, hints at a horse who may simply be learning the game. His size is a clue to his future: he's built for stamina and distance, not for the rock-hard, fast ground. On normal conditions, especially softer terrain, he should come into his own.

Recent form tells a complicated story. His last six races show a fourth place most recently, a pair of seconds, a sixth, an eighth, and a ninth before that. It is the work of a horse searching for its feet, but the fourth-place finish so soon after his Lingfield win suggests he has not lost his edge. Class 4 company—mid-tier racing—is where he contests most of his races, and there he has won 1 of 6, a 17% return that outpaces his overall record and shows this is the right level. Dunlop's yard is firing hard this season with 39 winners already, and Kokanee, still active and still learning, has every chance to add to that tally.