Curious Mrs Fox

The pattern is unmistakable. In her last six outings, she has placed twice (second and second again) but finished outside the top three on the other four occasions, including a pair of sixth-place finishes. Most of that racing has come in Class 6 events, the bottom tier of competitive racing, where she has managed to place from 22 attempts without winning. Her jockey Amie Waugh, who has ridden her nine times, knows her well enough — but that partnership, too, has produced no winners.

What keeps Curious Mrs Fox racing is consistency of a sort. She is not a horse that embarrasses herself; she turns up, runs respectfully, and often finishes in the placings. But after 33 races, that formula has never quite yielded a breakthrough. Trained by David Thompson at Bolam in County Durham — a yard that has had nine winners this season — she remains the kind of horse that turns up week after week, chasing a first win that may never come. She was back in action just yesterday, still hunting for that elusive victory.