Michael Bell

This season tells a slightly more complicated story. Bell has sent out 44 winners from 356 runners — that works out at roughly 1 in every 8 races, or 12% — which is a noticeable step back from the 16% he was hitting last year. A dip like that is worth watching, but it needs context: training at the top level means targeting the right races rather than chasing volume, and the yard has already landed a Class 1 at Ascot in April and another at Newmarket in October this year alone. Volume can be a misleading measure of a trainer at this level.

One thing that is not misleading is what happens when Bell runs horses at Wolverhampton. Five winners from 22 runners there tells you he reads that track well, whether that is in the types of horse he enters or the timing of those entries. Tracks like Wolverhampton reward trainers who understand the surface and the pace at which races are run — getting 5 from 22 is no accident.

Bell's most fruitful partnership is with jockey Hector Crouch, and the numbers there are striking. Twenty-one wins from 81 rides together gives them a win rate of 26%, or roughly 1 in every 4 races — more than double the yard's overall rate this season. That suggests genuine alignment between the two: Crouch presumably understands how Bell's horses are prepared, and Bell knows what he is getting from the saddle. Then there is Tralee Girl, whose record with Bell reads three wins from eight races together. Three from eight is a productive relationship by any measure, and horses that win that consistently with a single trainer tend to reflect a handler who has found exactly the right targets for them.

Two top-level wins, a trusted jockey, a course he clearly knows how to exploit — Bell's operation is still young by training standards, and the direction of travel is obvious.