One million pounds in the bank and 47 winners with six weeks of the turf season to run look like healthy statistics for most trainers.

Arundel-based John Dunlop is one of only nine trainers to pass the seven-figure mark in earnings but, by his standards, he confesses to having had a poor season.

He said: "We made quite a good start but it wasn't long before many of the horses were affected by a low-grade virus which has been very difficult to shake off. It keeps cropping up even now.

"Also, we have had more than the average number of injuries, even losing two horses through accidents.

"And because we have only one or two horses at the highest level, the result is about half the number of winners we might achieve in a good year."

The biggest disappointment was the three-year-old filly Hathrah, who won easily first time out at Kempton Park before running a close third to the brilliant Attraction in the One Thousand Guineas in May.

She went wrong after that run and, when resting at the stud farm of owner Sheikh Hamdan, suffered an injury out at grass.

Hathrah has so much potential that Dunlop is hoping the owner will break his normal rule and allow her to stay in training as a four-year-old.

He said: "Hathrah is a very talented filly and it would be marvellous if Sheikh Hamdan made an exception for her.

"She would increase her value and that of her progeny if she won a Group One or Group Two race, of which she is perfectly capable."

While Let The Lion Roar, the only other serious three-year-old in the yard, has been a major frustration since finishing third in the Derby, his older half-brother Millenary has kept the Castle Stables' flag flying at the highest level.

From four runs, Millenary won the Yorkshire Cup in May and the Doncaster Cup when he dead-heated two weeks ago.

Millenary provided Dunlop with his most recent Classic winner, the 2000 St Leger, and he may run once more this year, either in the Prix Cadran at Longchamp in a week's time or in the Jockey Club Cup at Newmarket.

Dunlop said: "The French race at two-and-a-quarter miles is probably beyond his limit so the Newmarket option is more likely."