Torrent

Those two wins carry a clear pattern. Both came in Class 4 races — the solid, mid-level tier where Torrent wins roughly 2 in every 7 outings at that level — and both came in the summer of 2024, first at Uttoxeter in July and then at Newton Abbot in September. That second win was 21 months ago now, which is a long drought, but the horse has kept showing up: 13 places from 23 races means Torrent is finishing in the top three more often than it's finishing out of contention. It's a horse that runs consistently without quite finding the gear to win.

The partnership with jockey David Noonan is worth noting. In 10 races together they've won twice, a win rate of 20% — or 1 in every 5. That's comfortably better than Torrent's overall record, which suggests Noonan knows how to get the best out of this horse, or at least that the team at Nigel Hawke's yard in Devon tends to put them together when conditions suit. Hawke, based in Stoodleigh, has sent out 9 winners so far this season, so this is a stable in decent form.

On distance, Torrent shows a real preference for the longer trips. Over 1 mile 6 furlongs to 2 miles, the win rate improves to 1 in 5 — the same tidy figure as with Noonan on board. That's a horse that needs room to settle and build into a race, not something that wants to be hustled along over shorter trips. Racing just one day ago and still active, Torrent's recent form reads 5th, 4th, 6th, a non-finish, 7th, and 3rd — competitive enough to suggest the horse belongs at this level, but not yet producing the run that breaks the drought. The pieces are there. Whether they come together again is another matter.