Ross Berry(7)

The "(7)" after his name is worth explaining: it means he is still serving his apprenticeship and claims a 7lb weight allowance, which is designed to give inexperienced riders a chance to get booked for rides while they learn the job. Berry has been riding since July 2024, so he is still in the early stages of a career that, by any measure, is yet to click into gear.

His most regular booking has come through trainer C A Murphy, who has put him up 23 times — nearly half of all his rides. That kind of loyalty from a yard matters enormously for a young jockey still building a reputation, but so far the pair have not managed to convert any of those opportunities into a winner. His three rides on Ballyglass Beauty have similarly come and gone without a victory. When your most familiar partnerships are also your least fruitful ones, it makes the search for that elusive first win feel all the more pressing.

The numbers are honest but not hopeless. A win rate that dipped from 2% last season — roughly 1 winner in every 50 rides — to nothing this season tells you things have moved in the wrong direction, but 2% was never a figure to shout about either. What Berry needs more than anything is a moment: one race where everything falls right, where the horse beneath him finds its stride and the two of them hit the line in front together. In jump racing especially, that first winner has a habit of arriving unexpectedly, and when it does, it can change the entire mood of a career. The question is simply how long the wait turns out to be.