Bayonetta

Trained by Gerald Stephen Quinn out of Ballymena in County Antrim, Bayonetta belongs to a modest yard that has sent out only two winners this season — the kind of outfit where each victory matters and where a horse like this, consistently near the money but never claiming it, represents a particular kind of frustration. When stepped up to Class 4 company, the top of what Bayonetta regularly faces, the record reads even starker: zero wins from four attempts. At eight years old and carrying a zero per cent win rate across a substantial career, this is a horse that has found its level but remains tantalizingly unable to break through it. For the yard, Bayonetta likely fills a useful role as a steady, reliable performer who keeps bringing money back to the yard — just not in the way they would prefer.