James Bennett

The most telling relationship in Bennett's string so far is with Pacific Prince, a horse he has run seven times without success. Seven attempts together is enough to suggest a genuine partnership is being developed, even if the results haven't come yet. Similarly, jockey Laura Coughlan has partnered Bennett's horses on 17 occasions — that kind of loyalty and repetition between a trainer and rider usually means something is being built, a shared understanding of how the horses go and what they need. It just hasn't translated into a winner yet.

What these numbers don't tell you is how close some of those runs may have been, or how young and raw some of these horses might still be. What they do tell you is that Bennett is persisting, keeping horses in work and getting them to the track. In a sport where many small yards quietly disappear after a couple of difficult seasons, still being here after four years counts for something.