Leonato

What works in Leonato's favour is the stable behind it. Trainer George Boughey operates out of Newmarket — the heartland of British flat racing — and has sent out 99 winners already this season. That's a remarkable number, and it tells you Boughey knows how to place a horse and get the best out of it. A trainer running at that volume of winners isn't making many mistakes about where and when to run their horses. If Leonato hasn't won yet, it's likely because the right opportunity hasn't quite lined up, not because anyone has given up on it.

The recent form reads 6-2-4-3-9 — that middle stretch of a second and a third shows genuine ability, but the latest run, a sixth, and the one before it finishing ninth, suggest either the horse is still finding its level or those races didn't suit. At three years old, that's not unusual. Horses this age are still developing, and plenty of them take time before everything clicks. With a trainer sending out nearly 100 winners a season, Leonato is in exactly the right hands to find out what it's capable of.