Brian Rothwell

The most curious thread running through his career is his partnership with Wath Court. Twenty-six races together, and not a single win to show for it. That is a remarkable statistic, though perhaps not in the way either party would hope. For a horse and trainer to keep lining up together across 26 races without a victory suggests either enormous loyalty, enormous optimism, or both. It has become the defining relationship of Rothwell's training career so far — for better or worse.

His most used jockey is Faye McManoman, who has partnered his horses 17 times without winning. Again, 17 rides is a meaningful sample — enough to say this combination simply hasn't clicked yet, rather than written off as bad luck.

There is one small bright spot worth noting. On fast, dry ground, Rothwell's runners win roughly 1 in every 14 races — 7% — which is meaningfully better than his overall figures. It is a thin sliver of evidence, but it does suggest his horses may be better suited to a firmer surface, and it is the kind of detail worth watching if conditions dry up during the season.

One winner from 58 runners this season is a hard number to dress up. But training racehorses is a long game, and four years in is still relatively early. The question for Rothwell is whether he can find a horse capable of turning his patience into results.