Grey Sands

The recent form tells a story of a horse capable of running well on its day but struggling to nail it. In the last six races, there have been two fifth-place finishes, a couple of seventh-place efforts, and a third. Nothing disastrous, but nothing sparkling either. The one bright spot is distance: when Grey Sands runs between 1 mile 1 furlong and 1 mile 2 furlongs, it has won 1 of its 5 attempts at those trips (a 20% win rate), suggesting those middle distances suit it better than sprints or longer races. That's a pointer for the future — if the horse can get back to winning form, it will likely be over that stretch of ground.

Kim Bailey and Mat Nicholls, the training partnership at Cheltenham, have a yard in good form this season with 31 winners already. Grey Sands remains unproven at the highest level but is the kind of horse that occasionally finds a race at the right time. It was active as recently as yesterday, so the yard are still testing it regularly in search of that second win. At three years old, there is still time.