T G McCourt

The most interesting wrinkle in McCourt's numbers is what happens when the rain comes down. On genuinely wet, heavy ground — the kind of conditions that sort the field as much as the racing itself — his runners win at around 14%, or 1 in every 7 races. That's almost three times his overall rate, and it suggests McCourt knows how to prepare a horse for the mud. Whether that comes down to how he trains them, the types of horse he targets, or simply smart race selection, it's a pattern worth noticing.

Down Royal has been a happy hunting ground too. Three winners from 17 runners there points to a trainer who understands the track and targets it purposefully — 3 from 17 translates to roughly 1 in every 6, well above his seasonal average. For a trainer at McCourt's stage of career, having a track where your horses run above themselves is a genuine asset.

His most-used jockey is James Ryan, who has partnered McCourt's horses 85 times for 4 wins together — also sitting at around 1 in every 21 rides. The volume of that partnership speaks to trust and a working relationship built over time, even if the winners haven't always followed. The most curious entry in McCourt's book, though, is Desert Of The Sea: 11 races together without a single win. That kind of persistent partnership, kept going despite no victories, suggests belief in a horse that simply hasn't delivered yet — or a trainer patient enough to keep trying.

At 62 career winners and four years in, McCourt is a trainer still on the way up. The wet-ground numbers and the Down Royal record hint at a smart operator who picks his spots carefully. The bigger results may still be ahead.