Jennie Candlish

That said, this season has seen a slight dip in performance. Her win rate has slipped from 17% last year — roughly 1 in every 6 — to 13% now, which works out to about 1 in every 8. In isolation, 13% is a perfectly respectable number for a trainer at this level. But the drop is worth watching. Whether it reflects a tougher book of horses, bad luck with the draw, or something the yard is actively working through, only time will tell.

One place where Candlish has been anything but average is Newton Abbot. Four winners from just seven runners at that track is a remarkable return — more than half her runners there have won, and that kind of dominance over a specific course usually points to a trainer who understands it well, whether that's knowing which horses suit the track's layout or simply targeting races there with real intent. When she sends a horse to Newton Abbot, it is worth paying attention.

Her most reliable jockey partnership is with Sean Quinlan, who has ridden 110 times for the yard and won on 17 of those occasions — a 15% win rate, or roughly 3 in every 20 rides. That's a long-standing working relationship built on mutual trust, and those partnerships tend to be worth following. The two clearly have a good understanding of each other's horses. Her partnership with Vidmiyr is smaller — just four races together with one win — but it's a combination to keep an eye on as that relationship develops.

208 winners in four years is the kind of CV that earns real respect in racing. Candlish is still a relatively young trainer in terms of experience, and the fact that she's already operating at this volume, with consistent results and clear course strengths, suggests there's more to come. The slight dip this season is a footnote, not a storyline — and if last year's form is anything to go by, a return to 1 in 6 is very much on the cards.