Volatile Analyst landed on the perfect formula for Dalgleish when scoring under jockey Callum Rodriguez by half a length in 2021. The South Lanarkshire-based trainer said: “It was brilliant. He was mine at the time – I owned him as well – so it was even better!”

By late March, when Volatile Analyst clinched victory in the Listed Cammidge Trophy at Doncaster, Dalgleish co-owned the five-year-old with Richard Gilbert.

But since then the gelding has beaten home only six horses across four runs to slip from an official rating of 105 to 97 – just 1lb higher than when he triumphed on the Knavesmire last October. Dalgleish said: “He seems in good order. He’s a funny horse though – he either wins or runs fairly poor.

“He seems to be better early in the season or later in the season. He’s a few issues and I suppose when they’re alright that’s when he wins.

“He’s a bit fragile, is the best word. You couldn’t just kick on with him like the others, otherwise you wouldn’t have him. You just kind of have to creep around him a bit.”

Volatile Analyst has actually been victorious twice on the Knavesmire – one win coming with a ‘good-to-soft’ going description, the other on soft. This weekend he’s sure to have preferred underfoot conditions at York. Dalgleish said: “Having won this race last year and then the Listed race at Doncaster early in the season, handicap-wise he’s been running off higher marks. He’s been slipping down now, so we’re hopeful of a big run and we’ll see how we go.

“From a ground point of view he should be okay. He definitely prefers a bit of dig in the ground and he likes the track. He doesn’t have many excuses, does he, for Saturday other than the fact it’s very competitive.”

Saturday is the final day of York’s 2022 season. The racecourse’s two-day meeting opens on Friday with talented young colts and geldings taking centre-stage in the seven-furlong British EBF £100,000 2YO Series Final, one of three races across the two days to offer a six-figure purse.

The finale fixture will also see the crowning of the racecourse’s leading trainer and jockey for the season. Karl Burke, who trains at Spigot Lodge just outside Middleham, has posted 10 course triumphs in 2022 – three more than his closest rival in the race, Kevin Ryan.

Jockeys Danny Tudhope and Clifford Lee have both booted home seven winners this year at York, ahead of Friday’s racing, which starts at 2.05 with the Parsonage Hotel and Cloisters Spa Nursery.