Gone In Sixty

The horse competes almost exclusively at Class 5, the entry-level tier of British racing, and has managed just 1 win from 33 races at that level — around 3%, or one in every 33 attempts. What it does do, however, is place. Twenty times from 41 races, Gone In Sixty has finished in the frame, which tells you this is a horse that consistently runs its race without quite finding the extra gear needed to win. Think of it as a footballer who gets into the right positions week after week but keeps hitting the post.

Kielan Woods has been in the saddle for 16 of those races without a single win together — a partnership that has generated plenty of placing positions but not yet a trip to the winner's enclosure. Trainer Alex Hales, based at Edgcote in Oxfordshire, has had 12 winners this season, so the yard clearly knows how to get horses to win. Gone In Sixty just seems to operate on its own stubborn timeline.

Recent form shows a horse still very much in the mix — a second place and a fourth in its last four completed runs — and with a race just yesterday, it is as active as ever. The Fakenham win may be 13 months in the rearview mirror now, but the continued placing suggests the talent is there. Whether it will translate into a second career victory remains the question that keeps the yard — and presumably the horse's most devoted followers — turning up at the track.