Mr S Connor(7)

Connor has been riding for four years, since 2021, and the numbers at this stage are modest — 2 winners from 55 rides in the last 12 months, which works out at roughly 1 in every 28 races. That win rate has nudged down from 5% last year to 4% this season, which is not a dramatic collapse but is the kind of trend worth watching. For context, even experienced jockeys can go through lean spells, and for someone still building a career, getting rides at all is half the battle.

His most established partnership is with trainer S R B Crawford, who has put him up 33 times — a significant show of faith. That combination has produced 1 winner from those 33 rides, a 3% win rate, which is below even his overall average. It suggests Crawford is using Connor as a reliable, regular option rather than specifically targeting races they expect to win, which is actually quite common in the early stages of a jockey's career. Yards need dependable riders for every day of the week, not just the big days.

The most genuinely encouraging detail in Connor's record is his performance on wet or muddy ground — 1 winner from 14 races on soft conditions, a 7% win rate, which is exactly double his overall average. That might sound like a small sample, but it hints that he either rides with more confidence when conditions get testing, or that the horses he partners in those conditions suit him well. Either way, it is a thread worth pulling on.

At four years into his career, Connor is at a stage where patience is everything. The opportunities are there — 55 rides in a year is a respectable workload — and the experience being banked now is exactly what converts promising apprentices into reliable professionals.