Noel Meade

One area where his horses tend to find a little extra is when the ground gets soft underfoot — think wet, slightly heavy conditions that many trainers dread. On that kind of surface, Meade's runners have won 6 times from 42 races, a win rate of around 1 in 7. That's noticeably better than his overall figures, suggesting he knows how to place his horses well when the weather turns and the going gets testing.

The most important relationship in any yard is between the trainer and the jockey who rides most of his horses, and for Meade that partner is Donagh Meyler. Together they have combined for 10 wins from 80 races — roughly 1 in every 8 — which makes Meyler comfortably the most productive rider in Meade's operation. When the same jockey and trainer work together repeatedly, they develop a shorthand: the trainer knows what the jockey will feel for in a race, and the jockey knows the quirks of each horse before it even leaves the yard. Ten wins from 80 rides suggests that partnership is working well.

Meade also has a notable record with one horse in particular — Kc Bear — though the pair have won just 1 of their 6 races together. That's a modest return, but the fact that Meade keeps running the horse and has sent it out six times points to a trainer who believes in what he has, even when the results aren't always there. Sometimes patience is the point.

Four years in, 195 winners banked, and a yard that handles wet ground better than most — Noel Meade is building something steady and worth keeping an eye on.