Jay Tidball(5)

The most important relationship in his career so far is with trainer Paul Nicholls, one of the most decorated yards in Britain. From 51 rides together, Tidball has produced 11 winners — that is winning more than 1 in every 5, a remarkable ratio that suggests Nicholls trusts him enough to keep putting him up, and that trust keeps getting rewarded. When a top trainer repeatedly books the same young jockey, it tells you something.

He is also a man for normal ground conditions — not too wet, not too dry — where he has won 10 from 38 races, or just over 1 in every 4. That is a seriously strong number and suggests he rides with a particular rhythm and confidence when the track is riding at its straightforward best.

Then there is Newton Abbot. Six winners from 12 rides at that track is the kind of record that makes trainers sit up and take notice — he has won half his races there. A jockey who genuinely knows a track, its bends, its run-ins, and how to time a challenge, is genuinely valuable, and Tidball looks like he has that circuit wired.

Thirty-seven career winners in four years might not sound like a headline number, but the trajectory here is the real story. He is 5lb claiming jockey — meaning he gets a weight allowance that makes him attractive to book — but the best claiming jockeys grow out of that allowance because they earn it. On current form, Jay Tidball looks very much like he is heading in that direction.