Silver Trumpet

His trainer, Eve Johnson Houghton, based at Blewbury in Oxfordshire, runs a yard that has sent out 39 winners this season alone — so Silver Trumpet is in capable hands. Johnson Houghton has spoken candidly about his situation: he won at Salisbury but paid a steep price for it, the handicapper pushing his weight up by 9lb in response. That kind of jump can make a horse's life considerably harder overnight, and it explains why his record at Class 4 level — the grade he most often competes at — reads zero wins from 13 races. He's been fighting uphill. To try to unlock something extra, the yard sent him for a wind operation, a procedure designed to help a horse breathe more freely at full stretch. It's the sort of intervention that signals genuine belief a horse has more to give.

The numbers that stand out most are at his preferred distance and on his preferred ground. Over seven furlongs to a mile, he's won 3 of his 15 races — that's 1 in every 5, which is a meaningful conversion rate for a horse at this level. On normal ground, the picture is even sharper: 2 wins from just 6 races, a 33% rate. He clearly isn't a horse for all conditions — he needs things to be right.

Charles Bishop has ridden him in 15 of his 23 races, a partnership that speaks to continuity, even if the scoreboard only shows 1 win together. His recent form — finishing fourth, fifth, second, seventh, then winning, then fourth — shows a horse who is in and around the action more often than not. He raced just one day ago, meaning he's in the thick of his campaign right now. The win at Epsom last August and the wind op suggest his team believe there's another good day in him yet.