Penzance

The horse arrived at Hanlon's yard rated 74 by the official handicapper and promptly won four of his first five starts, a burst of form that saw his rating rocket to 100 by the end of the winter. On standard ground — his preferred surface — he has won 4 of 21 races, a win rate of roughly 1 in every 5, which is genuinely competitive. He performs best over a mile and three to a mile and four furlongs, where he has won 4 of 22 races. The partnership between Penzance and his most frequent jockey, Alistair Rawlinson, has been particularly fruitful: they have combined for four wins from 19 races together, a win rate of 21 percent that outstrips his overall record by a significant margin.

What makes Penzance interesting now is not his overall statistics — a 10 percent win rate from 42 races is modest — but the evidence that he has learned to compete in better races. At Class 2 level he has won only 1 of 14, suggesting he finds the step up difficult, yet his trainer believes he has recently run his best race on grass at Doncaster, indicating there is still improvement to be found. He has not won in his last six races, but he remains active and in work, still hunting for that fifth career victory.