Helen Nelmes

The most notable relationship in her yard so far has been with Wellwillya, a horse she has partnered with across 21 races together, picking up 2 wins along the way. That works out at just under 1 win in every 10 races as a combination — modest on paper, but in the context of a small operation still finding its feet, those two wins represent real landmarks. Building a long-running partnership with a single horse and coaxing wins out of it is exactly the kind of patient, detail-oriented work that smaller yards depend on.

Nelmes is still relatively new to this. Four years in, she is at the stage where most trainers are still learning which horses suit their methods and which types of race to target. The honest picture right now is a trainer who has yet to fully hit her stride, but whose early career shows enough — two wins from a long association with one horse, a season last year that at least produced results — to suggest the tools are there. The next winner, whenever it comes, will matter more than the numbers currently suggest.