Ceol Draiochta

The partnership with jockey Kieren Buckley has been given a thorough workout, with seven of those nine races run together, but the pair are yet to find the winner's enclosure. That's not necessarily a damning verdict on either horse or rider — sometimes it just takes the right race on the right day — but seven attempts without a win is a long search. The recent form figures tell a similar story: a string of mid-pack finishes, with the dashes indicating races where Ceol Draiochta didn't complete or wasn't placed officially, and double-digit finishing positions elsewhere.

What keeps the profile interesting is the context around the horse rather than the horse itself. Adam Nicol's operation has sent out 26 winners this season, which suggests a yard that clearly knows how to get horses winning. Seahouses is about as far from the glamour of Newmarket or Cheltenham as British racing gets — a small, northern base where every winner is hard-earned. That Nicol is producing at a healthy clip makes Ceol Draiochta's blank record stand out a little more. The horse raced just yesterday, so the yard are clearly not giving up, and sometimes a horse finds its level late. For now, though, Ceol Draiochta remains one of racing's patient projects — still searching, still running, and still to give its yard a reason to celebrate.