Shantwopointfive

The ground matters too. On slightly soft conditions, Shantwopointfive has won 3 of 4 races — a 75% win rate that is frankly extraordinary. Three wins from four races on a specific type of ground, for an 8-year-old competing regularly, tells you this horse isn't just occasionally good. It is consistently good when the conditions suit, and that is exactly the kind of information that separates an interesting horse from a forgettable one.

James Bowen is the jockey who brings the best out of this horse. Together they have won 3 of their 6 races — that's 1 in every 2 rides ending in a win, which at any level of racing is a remarkable partnership. Horses and jockeys do develop a kind of rhythm together, and these two appear to have found theirs. Bowen has been in the saddle for every one of those Cartmel wins.

The trainer is Sam England, based in Guiseley in West Yorkshire, and the yard has been in fine form this season with 49 winners sent out. That volume of winners from a northern yard speaks to a trainer who knows how to place horses shrewdly — finding the right race at the right track — and Shantwopointfive looks like a prime example of that philosophy in action. Racing mostly at Class 4 level, the horse has won 3 of 6 races at that grade, meaning it competes against horses of a similar standard and wins half the time when conditions align.

Recent form shows a ninth, two blanks, a second, a fifth, and a win in the last six runs — slightly patchy on paper, but that win came at Cartmel just weeks ago. With soft ground available and Bowen in the saddle, this horse remains very much one to keep an eye on at its favourite track.