Marvelman

The Doncaster win is the headline, but the supporting detail matters too. Marvelman has placed — meaning finished in the top few — eight times from eleven races, which tells you this is a horse that consistently shows up and competes. It is not winning every week, but it is rarely running badly either. That kind of reliability at the top level is harder to achieve than it sounds.

Much of that consistency will have been shaped by the partnership with Oisin Murphy, one of the best jockeys in the country. Together they have won 2 from 6 races — that is a win rate of 33%, or roughly 1 in every 3 rides. When the sport's elite jockey keeps coming back to the same horse, it usually means there is something worth coming back for.

Behind the horse is Andrew Balding's yard at Kingsclere in Hampshire, one of the most productive operations in British racing right now. Two hundred and two winners in a single season is a staggering number — it means Balding's team are sending out winners at a relentless pace, and Marvelman is one of their flagbearers at the very top of the sport. Recent form — finishing second last time out after a win the race before — suggests the horse remains in good shape and very much in the conversation.