Fane Court

The recent form is actually more encouraging than the overall picture suggests. In its last six runs, Fane Court has finished second, third, and fourth in three of them — meaning it has been genuinely competitive and knocking on the door. The horse raced just yesterday, so it is very much an active participant, and that consistency of effort in the middle of its recent sequence shows there is still something to work with here.

The level Fane Court competes at, Class 4, sits in the middle tier of British racing — not the glamour events, but proper competitive races where every yard is hard-won. It has tried three times at this level without success, but the placed finishes elsewhere suggest the horse is capable of running well when things fall right.

It is trained by D J Jeffreys at a small yard in Hinton on the Green, Worcestershire, which has sent out four winners this season. For an outfit of that size, four winners represents a solid return, and the team clearly knows how to get a horse ready to run. The question for Fane Court is whether it can finally convert one of those near-misses into a result that actually counts. At eight, time is not exactly on its side — but horses have broken their duck later in life, and the recent form at least suggests the will is there.