Tanjen

Those two wins came in quick succession last summer. The first arrived at Newcastle on 1st August, and then just a month later Tanjen went one better at Southwell on 2nd September. Back-to-back wins mid-season is the sort of form that suggests a horse finding its rhythm rather than getting lucky, and the recent record bears that out: two wins from the last six races, with a second and a third mixed in as well. The sequence of 1-3-5-2-1-12, read from oldest to newest, tells the story of a horse building towards something before that final run went wrong.

That final run — a 12th-place finish — is worth noting, partly because it was also the last time Tanjen raced. That was roughly six months ago now, and the horse is returning from what amounts to a winter break. Whether it comes back as sharp as it left is the question every punter will be asking.

Tanjen is trained by Tim Easterby at Great Habton in North Yorkshire, and the yard is in fine fettle — 138 winners this season is a serious number for any training operation. David Allan rides Tanjen most often, the pair having teamed up five times with one win between them, a win rate of around 1 in every 5 races together. That is a perfectly respectable partnership.

The one slight curiosity in Tanjen's profile is that all six of its runs in Class 5 races — the bread-and-butter level of the sport — have produced zero wins. Both victories have come elsewhere. It is not a fatal flaw, but it is the kind of detail that makes you wonder whether Tanjen is actually better than the level it is most often entered at, or whether it simply finds ways to win when things set up differently. Either way, a fit, summer-form horse returning from a break and trained by one of the busiest yards in Britain is worth keeping an eye on.