Flybar

The level Flybar competes at is worth understanding. Class 5 is towards the lower end of the racing ladder — these are races designed to give horses like Flybar a realistic shot at winning — and yet it has drawn a blank in all three starts at that level. That is not a catastrophic indictment, but it does suggest the horse has some improving to do before it can mix it with even modest rivals. The fact that it finished eleventh in one of those races points to days where things have simply not clicked at all.

There is at least one reason for optimism, and that is the name above the stable door. Hugo Palmer, based in Malpas, Cheshire, is a trainer whose yard has sent out 67 winners already this season — a genuinely productive operation that knows how to get horses ready to run. Palmer has the tools and the experience to find the right opportunity for a horse that is still clearly developing. At three years old, Flybar has time on its side, and trainers of Palmer's calibre are usually patient enough to wait for a horse to find its feet. Having raced just one day ago, it is clearly a horse being kept busy, which suggests the team believes there is something there worth persevering with.

Whether that persistence pays off remains to be seen. For now, Flybar is one of those horses every racing fan recognises — the one that keeps turning up, keeps trying, and keeps making you think that maybe this time will be different. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it takes a while longer. The first win, when it comes, will feel well earned.