Vince Le Prince

The concerning detail is that Vince Le Prince's comfort zone is Class 4 racing—the lower-middle tier—where he has managed just one win from 19 races, a bare 5 percent win rate. That single victory sits against a backdrop of consistent mid-field finishes and outs, suggesting he can be competitive enough to get placed but rarely good enough to win at that level. His jockey David Allan, who has ridden him 23 times, has steered him to a pair of wins from those mounts—a 9 percent rate—so there is at least some spark in their partnership, even if the results haven't followed lately.

What saves Vince Le Prince from being entirely forgettable is his response to ground conditions. He genuinely thrives when the turf is either bone dry or waterlogged. On fast, firm ground he has won two of 11 races, a respectable 18 percent; on wet or muddy ground he has won two of seven races, which translates to 29 percent—a winning rate that hints at a horse who finds his feet when conditions are extreme. He races for Tim Easterby's yard at Great Habton in North Yorkshire, a stable that has sent out 128 winners this season, so there is clearly competence behind the scenes. Vince Le Prince raced just a day ago and remains active in the game—not quite finished, but certainly not thriving, and waiting for a race to fall his way under the right conditions.