Dominic Ffrench Davis

The overall numbers are modest — 12 winners from 131 runners this season, roughly 1 in every 11 — but the trend is pointed firmly in the right direction. His win rate has climbed from 7% last year to 9% this season, and in the last two weeks alone he has sent out 6 runners and already found a winner, a 17% hit rate that nearly doubles his seasonal average. When a trainer starts outperforming their own baseline, it usually means something is clicking.

There are patterns worth watching, too. On normal ground, his horses win at 17% — 5 wins from 30 races — which is comfortably better than his overall figures and suggests the yard's horses show their best form when conditions are neither too wet nor too dry. Newbury is another quiet strength: 3 winners from just 10 runners there, a 30% win rate that any trainer at any level would be delighted with.

The family dimension adds an extra layer of interest. His most frequent jockey partnership is with Ben Ffrench Davis — almost certainly a relative — who has ridden 30 times for the yard and won on 3 of them, a 10% win rate that tracks neatly with the trainer's overall average. Sixty-nine career winners in four years, two of them at the top level, and a yard that appears to be finding another gear: Dominic Ffrench Davis is a name worth knowing before the wider racing world catches up.