Untapped potential the key for powerful Newmarket yard

Stats may not lie but they don’t always tell the full story and, while last year’s bottom line makes for pleasant enough reading, 2017 was not without frustration for Hugo Palmer.

With a record amount of winners and more than £1 million in prize-money, it was hardly a disaster but ill health meant Palmer’s Newmarket stable was much slower into stride than ideal.

The fact he finished with 77 winners, including a European Classic success with Unforgettable Filly, is testament to the trainer’s workforce and, with no sign of last year’s lurgies, there is a spring in Palmer’s step, if not yet in the air.