Cheerleader

What stands out is that Cheerleader actually wins at a decent clip when conditions are right. In Class 6 races — the kind of mid-tier competition where many horses compete — the record is two wins from six races, a 33% win rate that suggests the horse is well suited to that level. The recent form tells a different story, though. In the last six races, the best result was a third-place finish; mostly the horse is finishing outside the places or just scraping into them. Raced as recently as yesterday, Cheerleader remains active in the yard of trainer Tina Jackson, whose team has already sent out nine winners this season.

There's a case to be made that Cheerleader is a horse searching for the right race — something at the right track, at the right distance, against the right field. The early wins showed the ability is there. Whether the horse can rediscover that form after such a long gap is the question that defines the rest of its career.