C Byrnes

The big-race record is what really stands out. Most trainers spend years waiting for their first top-level winner. Byrnes had two at Cheltenham within a month of each other in November and December 2021 — almost as soon as the training career had begun. A third followed at Haydock Park in November 2024, taking the tally to three Class 1 wins across four seasons. For context, these are the highest-grade races in British racing, the ones that draw the biggest crowds and the sharpest horses. Landing three of them so early is genuinely impressive.

The most productive working relationship in the yard is with jockey Philip Byrnes, who has partnered 125 runners to 13 wins together — that's a win rate of roughly 1 in every 10 rides, bang in line with the yard's overall season average. It is a partnership built on volume and consistency rather than occasional fireworks. One partnership worth noting for different reasons is with Dawn Coming, who has gone out five times under Byrnes without winning. Five races without a result is not a crisis, but it is a puzzle — and one the yard will no doubt be working to solve.

The form over the past two weeks is encouraging. Two winners from 13 runners gives a win rate of around 15%, clearly above the seasonal average of 10%. Whether that is a genuine uptick in form or simply a short run of good fortune is hard to say, but the yard appears to be hitting a productive patch. Byrnes also shows a particular fondness for normal ground conditions, winning 4 from 21 races on a standard surface — nearly 1 in every 5 — which suggests the horses are prepared with those conditions in mind. Four years in, the foundations look solid.