Crokes Cross

What makes this one genuinely hard to read is the gap that follows. Crooks Cross has not raced in roughly nine months, which in horse racing terms is a significant absence. Whether that time away has been spent ironing out problems or simply waiting for the right opportunity, nobody outside the yard can say for certain — but horses returning from that kind of break are always something of an unknown quantity. They can come back transformed, or they can come back rustier than ever.

The trainer is Stuart Coltherd, who operates out of Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. It is a small, tight-knit operation, and this season the yard has sent out just one winner — so expectations here are measured rather than grand. Coltherd is not a name that dominates the big-race headlines, but small yards like his often know their horses intimately, and sometimes that patience pays off when a horse finally clicks. Whether Crooks Cross is that kind of project remains to be seen.

At seven, this horse is no longer young. There is still time to find some form, but the clock is ticking, and two blank runs from two attempts means everything still needs to be proven.