Patrick Wadge

This season has been harder going. Wadge has ridden 206 races and won just 12 of them — roughly 1 in every 17 — which represents a dip from last year's form, when he was winning closer to 1 in every 10. That kind of slump is not unusual in a sport where confidence, horses, and luck all have to align at once, but it is the sort of stretch that tests a jockey's resolve. The raw numbers look modest, but 206 rides in a season tells you the phone is still ringing.

Where Wadge genuinely stands out is in the mud. On wet, heavy ground — the kind of conditions that separate horses and jockeys who relish a battle from those who prefer an easier surface — he has won 1 from 7 races, a win rate of around 14%. That might sound like a small sample, but it is more than double his overall average, and it suggests he is the sort of rider who digs in when conditions get tough rather than going through the motions. His record at Wetherby backs this up: 3 winners from 11 races there is a noticeably better return than his broader numbers, and tracks often reward jockeys who understand their quirks and layouts.

His most important working relationship is with the yard run by Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore, a respected training partnership based in Scotland. Together they have produced 7 winners from 99 races — winning roughly 1 in every 14 — which nudges slightly above Wadge's overall average and suggests the partnership suits both sides. For a jockey building a career, having a reliable stable of that quality in your corner matters more than it might appear from the outside.

Wadge is at a point in his career where the next year or two will be telling. The big-race wins are already there on his CV. The question is whether he can push that win rate back up and start turning a promising start into something more consistent.