Cortado Girl

What matters now is what has changed in those six months away. Young horses can improve enormously during a long break, filling out physically and maturing in ways that don't show up in any number. A ninth place on debut is not a reason to write a horse off, especially at two, when so much development is still happening. Plenty of good horses have looked ordinary in their first outing and come back completely transformed.

Hayley Burton's yard in Newmarket has sent out four winners this season, which shows the operation knows how to get a horse ready to perform. Newmarket itself is one of the great centres of British racing, and trainers based there tend to have access to excellent facilities and strong competition on their doorstep — which can only help a young horse learn its trade. Whether Cortado Girl is ready to reward the patience of her team on her return remains to be seen, but the next run will tell us a great deal more than the first one did.