Andesite

At its preferred distance of five to six-and-a-half furlongs, the picture is a little brighter — 1 win from 8 races at those trips, which works out at around 12%. And at Class 2 level specifically, where you might expect it to struggle, it has actually won 1 from 5, a 20% win rate. That is a curious but telling pattern: Andesite seems to find its best form when the occasion demands it, not when the opposition is weak.

Fell was clearly excited after that York win. Speaking last summer, he described the horse as "high-class" and was already looking at prestigious races at Royal Ascot — the Coventry Stakes, no less, a race his half-sister Dramatised had already won. Family form at a particular track is worth taking seriously, and Fell clearly believed Andesite belonged at that level. Whether the horse has fully lived up to that billing since is a harder question — it has not won in any of its last six races, and that York victory is now over two years ago.

At four years old and currently active — it raced just yesterday — Andesite is still in training and still competing at a decent level. Fell's yard has sent out 25 winners this season, so this is a team that knows how to get horses ready to run well. The question is whether Andesite can rediscover that form which made it look, briefly, like something genuinely exciting. One big win in 15 races is a thin record, but it happened at the right place, against the right kind of competition. Sometimes that one moment is enough to keep everyone believing.