Marbuzet

His recent form shows the pattern of a horse still very much in the thick of things. Just yesterday he ran ninth, but before that came a second-place finish, then a fourth, an eleventh, another ninth, and a fifth. That is the shape of a veteran campaigner—not every trip is a winning one, but he is consistently competitive and quick to bounce back. He last won just this week at Beverley on 30 August, and it is instructive that he has already been out again. Tim Easterby, his trainer at Great Habton in North Yorkshire, is clearly keeping him fresh and active, exactly as you would with a horse who thrives on racing.

Where Marbuzet really shines is at Class 6 level—the bread-and-butter rung of the racing ladder—where he has won five of eighteen races (28%). At the top level, he is outgunned, but drop him into his natural class and he becomes a genuine threat. He also shows a taste for slightly soft ground, winning two from six races on that surface (33%), which gives his the yard a useful angle when the forecast is wet. David Allan has been his most frequent partner, riding him to three wins from twenty races (15%), a respectable understanding between jockey and horse.

Easterby, who has sent out 128 winners this season from his busy yard, has bigger plans in mind. He describes Marbuzet as a tough, staying horse who goes well on quick ground and made good progress last year—the kind of measured assessment that suggests the trainer believes there is a decent race left in him, perhaps even the Chester Cup reserve race further down the line. At seven years old and still winning this week, Marbuzet is not done yet.