Cant Resist It

The recent form figures tell an interesting tale. Reading from most recent backwards — 4th, 5th, 15th, 2nd, 3rd, 5th — there is a clear dip in the middle (that 15th is a real outlier) bookended by much more competitive efforts. The second and third places suggest a horse that on its day can mix it with better rivals; the 4th and 5th most recently hint that it is ticking along without quite finding top gear. It raced just 23 days ago, so it is fit and active, and the yard — the trainer's team — clearly believe there is a race to be won somewhere.

That trainer is Fergal O'Brien, operating out of Withington in Gloucestershire, and his yard is in seriously good form this season with 91 winners on the board. In that context, Cant Resist It is very much an unfinished project — a horse that has yet to pay its way in a stable full of winners. Its regular jockey, Mr J H Williamson, has partnered it five times without getting into the winner's enclosure, though the placed efforts suggest the combination is not far away from cracking it.

Competing at Class 4 level — the middle tier of British racing, not the very top but not the bottom rung either — Cant Resist It has yet to win any of its three races at that grade. A horse of this profile, seven years old with 10 races behind it and still to score, is either about to break through or is the kind that keeps its backers permanently optimistic and permanently disappointed. Given the stable's current momentum and those recent placed efforts, the optimists might just have a case.