Jedd O'Keeffe

The last two weeks have been particularly eye-catching. Two winners from just five runners works out at 40% — more than three times his already-improved seasonal average of 13%. A trainer running that hot rarely does so by accident. Something is clicking at the yard right now.

O'Keeffe has also shown a knack for specific conditions. On slightly soft ground — when there has been a bit of rain and the turf has some give in it — his horses win at a rate of roughly 1 in every 5, with 7 wins from 34 races. That 21% figure is meaningfully better than his overall average and suggests he knows how to place his horses when the weather turns. Pontefract tells a similar story: 3 winners from just 7 runners at that track is a remarkable return, and it is exactly the kind of local knowledge that separates a shrewd operator from someone just sending horses out and hoping.

His most trusted ally on race day is jockey Jack Garritty, who has partnered O'Keeffe's horses to 8 wins from 60 rides together. That 1-in-8 win rate mirrors the yard's overall figure almost exactly — a sign of a settled, well-functioning partnership rather than one carrying the other. Then there is Trojan Soldier, the horse O'Keeffe has worked with most productively: 3 wins from 12 races together, which tells the story of a trainer who has really got to know a horse and figured out how to get the best from it.

Eighty-five winners in four years, a rising win rate, a jockey he trusts, a track he dominates, and a yard currently running at nearly three times its own average. O'Keeffe is still relatively new to this game, but the evidence is stacking up that he is learning it quickly.