Gary Brown

The one bright spot in an otherwise difficult period is his partnership with Easter Icon, which stands as the most compelling story Brown has to tell. Four wins from 16 races together is a genuinely impressive record — that is 1 in every 4, a figure that puts most training partnerships to shame. When a trainer finds a horse that clicks with his methods, it tends to reveal what he is capable of at his best, and Easter Icon has done exactly that for Brown.

On normal ground conditions, Brown has managed 1 win from 30 races this season — around 1 in every 30 — which is modest but at least shows he can get a result when conditions play fair. The bigger picture, though, is that a 1% win rate across 70 runners is the kind of number that raises real questions about whether the horses coming through the yard this season are simply not up to the level Brown needs, or whether something more fundamental needs to change. Thirty career winners in four years suggested a trainer on a steady upward curve. This season has put that trajectory firmly on hold.