Based

The five-month gap since that win at Wolverhampton is the real story here. Based has not found the winner's circle since June, though William Knight's Newmarket yard—which has already sent out 28 winners this season—clearly believes the horse is worth persisting with. The recent form reads as a study in near-misses: a second last time out, a third a couple of races before, and a string of mid-field finishes in between. For a horse with just one win to its name, that kind of pattern can be frustrating, but it also suggests Based is competitive enough to threaten. The question now is whether the horse can break through again before the gap from its sole victory becomes too long to ignore.