Glorious mud turns things around for Venetia Williams as Royale Pagaille proves his love for Haydock again

While Storm Bert was hitting our shores, it was Storm Venetia who was hitting our racecourses. Royale Pagaille in the Betfair Chase was the headline-grabbing victory but the weekend's action showed a striking return to form for his trainer Venetia Williams, whose horses have so often thrived in muddy conditions over the years.

On Friday morning, a fan of her Herefordshire stable might have worried that the season hadn't started all that strongly. After her usual summer absence, Williams had just one runner in October, followed by 15 in the first three weeks of November, just one of whom came home in front.

But a spot of rain, together with the return to action of the yard's first jockey Charlie Deutsch turned things around completely. Since Friday, the form figures of Williams' runners reads: 11237111. When the countryside is waterlogged, that's when she makes hay.