Grand Pier

What makes that slightly puzzling is the yard behind it. Greatrex's operation has sent out 50 winners this season — that is a productive stable by any measure, and horses trained there clearly know how to win. Grand Pier has simply not been one of them yet. It has raced three times at Class 5 level, which is the bread-and-butter tier of British racing — the kind of races designed to give horses a fair chance of winning — and has drawn a blank in all three. That is not a crisis at this stage of a young horse's life, but it does suggest it has work to do before it starts repaying the faith the team has placed in it.

The one mildly encouraging detail is that fourth-place finish in its most recent run, just one day ago. It is not a win, but finishing fourth shows it is at least in the race. At three years old, there is still time for things to click, and horses from a yard firing as well as Greatrex's tend to have every chance of getting there. Grand Pier just needs to find that extra something to turn a near-miss into a result.