Les's Destiny Star

The trainer is Ewan Whillans, whose yard is based in Hawick in the Scottish Borders — about as far from the glamour of Ascot or Cheltenham as you can get while still being in Britain. That doesn't stop the operation from getting results: 28 winners sent out this season is a healthy total for a smaller yard, and it tells you Whillans knows what he's doing. Regular jockey Ben Jones has ridden Les's Destiny Star six times, winning once together — a rate of about 1 in every 6 rides, or 17%, which is actually a decent return given the horse's overall record.

Where this horse does show some real promise is at Class 5 level, which is the bread-and-butter tier of racing — not the big prestigious days, but competitive enough to matter. In four races at that level, it has won once, which works out to a 25% win rate, or 1 in every 4 tries. That's genuinely solid for a horse with a modest overall record, and it suggests the key is simply finding the right race at the right moment. The horse raced just yesterday, so it is very much still active and in the mix. Whether Doncaster — the scene of that one moment of glory — gets another visit on the agenda could be the most interesting question hanging over its next few months.