Sean Thomas Doyle

The fuller picture is more encouraging. The standout chapter of Doyle's career so far has been his partnership with Monbeg Park, a horse that has given the yard five wins from 24 races together — that's just over 1 in every 5 races ending in victory, which is a genuinely solid record at any level of the sport. For a small operation still finding its feet, having one horse that wins with that kind of consistency is enormously valuable. Monbeg Park hasn't just been a good horse for the yard — he's been the horse that defines what Doyle can do when things come together.

At four years in, Doyle is still in the early stages of building something. Training yards take time to establish — owners need to trust you, horses need to come through, and results need to follow. The current lean spell is a bump in the road rather than a verdict on his ability, and if Monbeg Park is anything to go by, the foundations are there.