Green Icon

The numbers tell a mixed story about what Green Icon is and what it might still be. Over its career, it has placed fourth or better in 6 of 28 races — one win every 14 races, and a place roughly every four and a half. The horse performs distinctly better at distances between seven furlongs and a mile, winning 2 of 11 races at that trip (18%), compared to nowhere else. Recent form has been uninspiring: in the last six outings, a return of tenth, third, seventh, thirteenth, and eighth, with nothing better than that single third place. Ridden most often by J M Sheridan — nine rides without a winner — Green Icon has at least shown it can mix it at the lower end of the handicap ladder, even if consistency remains elusive.

Trained by John and Rhys Flint at Kenfig Hill in Bridgend, a yard that has already sent out eight winners this season, Green Icon continues to race actively. At four years old, it has time to find another winning opportunity, but the gap since that last success at Haydock suggests the horse may have simply moved beyond the level where it can win. It remains a horse for patient the yard, useful enough to place in races but unable, for now at least, to get back into the winner's circle.