Berkenshtaaap

The recent form figures — 4, 10, 4, 8, 3, 5, reading back from the most recent race — do at least hint at some flickers of promise buried in an otherwise inconsistent sequence. That third-place finish stands out as the closest Berkenshtaaap has come to breaking through, and a fourth-place effort appearing twice suggests the horse isn't disgracing itself at the back of the field. It's finishing in the mix often enough to keep hope alive, even if the winning post keeps arriving a little too soon.

Most of its racing has come at Class 5 level — the entry-level tier of British racing, where the competition is at its most accessible and where you'd expect a horse to be finding wins if it's going to find them anywhere. Three races at that level, zero wins, is a record that raises genuine doubts about whether Berkenshtaaap can convert its occasional placings into victories. At six years old, time isn't necessarily running out, but the window for making a mark is narrowing.

What works in the horse's favour is the yard behind it. Olly Murphy, based in Wilmcote in Warwickshire, has been in sharp form this season — 144 winners sent out is a serious number that marks his operation as one of the more productive in the country. When a trainer is firing at that rate, you can be fairly confident that a horse still in active training is there on merit, not sentiment. Murphy's team clearly believes there's a performance in Berkenshtaaap worth waiting for. Whether that patience pays off is the question the horse's next run — just 24 days after its last — may begin to answer.