El Pinto

The bulk of El Pinto's racing has come at Class 5 level, which is the bread-and-butter end of the sport — the races where horses who cannot quite cut it higher up the ladder compete for modest prize money. Going zero from five at that level is a concern, because if a horse cannot win at the lowest tier, the question of where a win might come from becomes harder to answer. Christopher Kellett, who trains El Pinto from his yard in Lathom, Lancashire, has sent out seven winners this season, so the team clearly knows how to get a horse into the winner's enclosure — El Pinto just has not been one of them yet.

What is perhaps most notable is that El Pinto raced just yesterday and is evidently being kept busy. Trainers sometimes run horses frequently to find the right race, the right conditions, or simply to build experience. Whether Kellett is still hunting the perfect opportunity for this horse or simply keeping it ticking over is unclear, but at four years old and with eight races under its belt, the window for improvement is narrowing. It remains to be seen whether El Pinto can turn its one placed finish into something more.