Caher Roes Den

What makes the story a little puzzling is the yard behind the horse. W P Mullins, based in Muine Bheag in Co Carlow, has sent out 215 winners already this season — that is a training operation at the very top of the sport, the kind of place where horses go to win races. When a yard is firing in winners at that rate, a horse stuck on zero from eight starts stands out. It is not that Caher Roes Den is being asked to do anything extraordinary — it has spent most of its career competing at Class 4 level, the bread-and-butter tier of racing, and has drawn a blank in all six races at that level. That is the point where you might expect a horse with genuine talent to find its moment.

Jack Quinlan has been the regular partner, riding the horse in six of those eight races without a win between them. That is not a criticism of the jockey — some horses just keep making you wait. Recent form shows a fourth, a third, and a couple of runs in between, which at least suggests Caher Roes Den is consistently competitive. It is not trailing in at the back of the field. But in racing, placing is not winning, and at eight years old the window for that breakthrough is not getting any wider. The the yard will be hoping the horse can finally convert one of those near-misses before too long.