Alan Bresil

The recent form makes for mixed reading. A second-place finish is the highlight, and there are a couple of fifth-place efforts in the mix, but an eighth suggests some days are better than others. Jockey Harry Reed has had five chances in the saddle and is still waiting for a winner, which at least shows the team's faith in keeping the partnership together even without a breakthrough.

Scholfield's yard is clearly in decent shape this season — 19 winners is a solid return and suggests the trainer knows what he is doing. That makes Alan Bresil something of an outlier in the string, a horse that hasn't yet found a way to reward the effort being put into it. Most of its races have come at Class 4 level, which is mid-tier British racing — not the top table, but competitive enough that you still need to be on your game to win. Four races at that level, zero wins.

What is perhaps most striking is that this horse raced just yesterday and is still at it. Whatever else you say about Alan Bresil, it is not short of opportunities. Sooner or later, a first win would mean a lot to a yard that has kept believing in it.