Crest Of Fortune

What makes that drought particularly interesting is the company he's been kept in. Crest Of Fortune has had four attempts at the top tier of racing — Class 1, the big-occasion races — and he hasn't won any of them, though he has placed nine times across his career overall, which tells you he's consistently competitive without quite managing to convert. Anthony Honeyball, who trains him from a yard in Mosterton, Dorset, has been candid about why. After a run at Aintree, he noted that the horse's hurdling simply wasn't good enough for that level — he was there because he couldn't get into the right handicap races, and the team had decided to try him over three miles on pedigree alone. It didn't quite come off, but Honeyball made clear that his faith in the horse's underlying ability remains intact, suggesting a move to chasing could be on the horizon.

That confidence isn't without foundation. Honeyball's yard has sent out 51 winners this season alone — a team operating at real volume and quality — and he was glowing after an earlier run at Ffos Las, describing a horse who was fresh and keen but jumped fluently and caught the eye. At the time, Honeyball was talking about Graded novice hurdles and top races as realistic targets. The gap between that ambition and recent results tells you this is a horse still figuring himself out.

At 6, he's not old. Crest Of Fortune has time to develop, and if the switch to fences does come, it could be exactly the reset he needs. Horses who travel well and jump cleanly — which he clearly can — often find a second wind over the bigger obstacles. For now, he raced just yesterday and remains very much an active project, one that a patient trainer is clearly not giving up on.