Oakley

What makes Oakley interesting is how he wins. His trainer, Mrs C Williams, based at Llancarfan in the Vale of Glamorgan, describes him as a horse who needs to be held up at the back of the field before being produced late — exactly as he was at Hereford, where he came from last to first over two miles and three and a half furlongs to make the whole thing look effortless. The problem with making it look effortless is that the handicapper notices. He was raised 8lb after that performance, putting him on a career-high mark, and his next run at Chepstow produced nothing. That is the tightrope he walks: win too well and the assessors make life harder.

His best results have come on normal ground, where he has won 2 of his 8 races at 25 percent — a genuinely strong ratio for a horse at his level. He clearly moves best when the surface isn't testing him unnecessarily. Interestingly, his regular partner Danny Mullins has ridden him seven times without a win between them, which means someone else has been in the saddle on his better days.

Mrs Williams has sent out 3 winners from her yard this season, and Oakley's Uttoxeter win this week is clearly a timely one. He is a horse who rewards patience — both from his trainer, who knows exactly how to place him, and from anyone watching who understands that coming from last to first, making it look easy, and then bouncing back from a tough mark is rather harder than it sounds.