Tom Ward

This season, though, Ward is working through a quieter patch. Thirteen winners from 188 runners works out at roughly 1 in every 14 races — around 7% — which is a step back from last year's 10%. It's not a collapse, but it's a noticeable dip, and the sheer volume of runners without more winners to show for it suggests a yard that's keeping busy while waiting for form to click back into gear. These things are cyclical in training, and 80 winners in four years means Ward has earned the benefit of the doubt.

One bright spot is Southwell, where Ward has won 4 races from just 12 runners. That's an extraordinary return — one in every three runners winning at a single track is the kind of record that suggests he genuinely understands how to prepare horses for that venue, whether it's how he trains them, the races he picks, or simply knowing which horses suit the place. Smart trainers find tracks they can exploit, and Southwell looks like Ward's.

His most regular jockey partnership is with Sean Levey, who has ridden 49 times for the yard and won 3 of them — roughly 1 in every 16 rides together, or about 6%. That's below the yard's overall average, which is a little surprising for a trainer's most-used jockey. More curious still is the partnership with Laplander, a horse Ward has sent out 11 times without a win. Eleven races together and nothing to show for it is a puzzle worth watching — either a breakthrough is coming or a change of plan is overdue. Ward is still a young trainer with real top-level form on his record. The tools are there.