Rachel Cook & John Bridger

The last twelve months have been tougher than the year before. Their win rate has slipped from around 1 in every 12 races last season to roughly 1 in every 25 this time around — 7 winners from 174 runners. That kind of dip is not unusual for a small yard navigating the grind of a full season, but it is the sort of thing that will need to turn around if they are to build on what they established in year two.

There are genuine bright spots worth pointing to. Their most reliable ally in the saddle is jockey Rhys Clutterbuck, who has won 3 races from 30 rides for the yard — that is 1 in every 10, a solid return that suggests a productive working relationship built on familiarity. The horse they know best is Imperial Cult, who has won 3 of his 32 races with the yard. Three wins from 32 sounds modest, but keeping the same horse in the yard for that many races and continuing to find the right opportunities for him says something about how Cook and Bridger manage their horses patiently rather than chasing quick results.

One clear pattern in the data is that the yard does its best work when the ground is fast and dry — 3 winners from 47 races in those conditions, roughly 1 in every 16, which is meaningfully better than their overall record. For anyone following their horses, that is a useful clue: when the sun has been out and the ground has dried out, Cook and Bridger's runners tend to perform.

Three years in, this is still a yard in the process of becoming something. The volume of runners — 174 in a single season — shows real ambition and a willingness to compete, and 26 career winners is a foundation to build from. The next step is converting that activity into a better win rate.