Aiden Brookes

The most intriguing part of Brookes's profile is what happens when the conditions change. On slightly soft, wet ground, he wins 4 from 19 races — that is 21%, or roughly 1 in every 5. Compare that to his overall rate of 1 in 12 and the difference is striking. Some jockeys simply read wet ground better: they understand when to hold a horse together, when to let it find its own rhythm, and when to commit. Whatever Brookes is doing differently in those conditions, the numbers suggest it is working.

Chester is the other name to file away. He has ridden 4 winners from just 19 races there, a record that matches his soft-ground numbers almost exactly. Chester matters because it is one of the most unusual tracks in Britain — tight, left-handed, barely a straight stretch anywhere — and many jockeys find it uncomfortable. Brookes clearly does not. Four winners from 19 rides at a specialist venue like that is the kind of stat that trainers notice when they are deciding who to call.

His most frequent partnership is with trainer Micky Hammond, and on the surface the numbers look modest — 4 wins from 106 rides, around 1 in every 26. But volume tells its own story. Over a hundred rides together means Hammond trusts Brookes with enough horses to build a real working relationship, even if the winners have not always followed. The more telling question is whether that partnership starts to yield more as Brookes matures into his peak years.

At 92 career winners and four seasons in, he is not yet a household name. But the soft-ground numbers, the Chester record, and the steady accumulation of winners suggest someone still finding the ceiling of what they can do.