Patrick McGettigan(5)

What makes the numbers genuinely encouraging is the direction of travel. McGettigan won at a rate of about 1 in every 17 races when he first started out, and has since pushed that up to roughly 1 in every 11 this season. That kind of improvement in year one suggests someone learning quickly and earning the trust of trainers willing to put him up on better horses.

His most regular working relationship is with trainer J P Murtagh, for whom he has ridden 37 times and won on 3 occasions — a win rate of around 1 in every 12 rides. It is a steady rather than spectacular record, but in the early stages of a career, simply having a trainer who keeps putting you back in the saddle is often how reputations are quietly built.

The track worth watching is Gowran Park, where McGettigan has won 3 times from just 15 rides — a win rate of 1 in 5, which is comfortably his best anywhere. Whether that is down to course knowledge, the type of horses he tends to ride there, or simply good fortune is hard to say at this stage, but any jockey who wins 20% of their races at a particular track tends to keep getting booked for it, and that in itself creates momentum.

Twenty-eight winners from a standing start a year ago is a decent debut chapter. The early signs — an improving win rate, a growing book of rides, and one track where he already looks at home — point to a rider who is finding his feet faster than most.