Rian Corcoran(7)

The number after his name — the (7) — is worth explaining. That means he claims a 7lb allowance, a weight concession given to less experienced riders to help level the playing field against more established jockeys. Trainers who put a claimer on their horse are effectively getting a built-in advantage on the scales, which is why shrewd yards often snap up the best young riders before everyone else catches on.

The shrewdest yard to have spotted Corcoran early is David Pipe's operation in Devon. That partnership has produced 13 wins from 47 rides together — a win rate of 28%, or just over 1 in every 4 races. That is a remarkable number. When a trainer keeps putting a young jockey up on his horses at that kind of frequency and the results keep coming, it stops being a coincidence and starts looking like a genuine first-choice partnership in the making.

There is also a course worth watching out for: Wincanton. Four winners from just 10 rides there gives Corcoran a 40% win rate at the Somerset track — winning 2 in every 5 races he has ridden there. For a jockey of any experience level, that would be a notable record. For someone just two years into their career, it is the kind of statistic that makes punters take note every time his name appears in a Wincanton racecard.

At 20 winners and climbing, Corcoran is still near the beginning of his story. But the ingredients are already in place: a reliable senior trainer backing him, a track where he clearly thrives, and a win rate that suggests horses run well for him. The next question is simply how quickly the rest of the sport catches up with what David Pipe already seems to know.