P M J Doyle

There are early signs of promise, though the numbers do present a puzzle or two. Last year Doyle was winning at 14%, closer to 1 in every 7, so this season's dip to 10% is worth watching. Whether that's a temporary blip or something more structural is the question his team will be asking themselves. Four years in is still early days for any trainer, and building a yard takes time, patience, and the right horses arriving at the right moment.

One curious footnote in the stats is the partnership with jockey Philip Donovan, which hasn't clicked yet — 10 rides together and still searching for that first winner. That's the kind of run that tends to get noticed in racing yards, and you'd expect both trainer and jockey to be keen to put it right. Partnerships can take time to gel, but ten races without a result is a long wait.

Where Doyle does show a flicker of something different is on wet, muddy ground. On those heavy, rain-soaked days when plenty of trainers and punters would rather stay home, his horses have won 1 from 6 — around 1 in 6 races, or 17%. That edges above his overall average, hinting that when conditions turn testing, his string may be better suited than the bare numbers suggest. It's a small sample, so it shouldn't be overstated, but in racing, knowing what your horses prefer is half the battle.