Walden

The most recent win came at Haydock Park just this week, which underlines how sharp and in-form Walden currently is. Normal ground suits him well — he has won two of his only three races on it, a 67% record that is as good as it sounds — and trainers always love a horse who gives you a clear picture of when to run him. Tom Lacey's yard at Woolhope in Herefordshire has been in tremendous nick this season, sending out 37 winners, and Walden fits the profile of a stable that clearly knows how to place a horse to win.

The partnership with jockey Stan Sheppard is worth noting too. In six races together, Sheppard has ridden Walden to three wins — that is one in every two rides, a 50% record that is genuinely exceptional. Jockey-horse combinations that click like that tend to keep getting booked together, and for good reason. The one blip in recent form — a thirteenth-place finish sitting awkwardly in the sequence — does not seem to have dented confidence on either side, given the wins that followed it.

Walden has mostly raced at Class 4 level, which sits in the middle tier of British racing, winning two of six there. The natural question now is whether the team starts testing him at a higher grade. With this much momentum, the temptation to find out will be hard to resist.