Head Girl

What does give this profile a little more colour is who is responsible for the horse. Jonathan Portman's yard at Upper Lambourn has sent out 46 winners already this season, which puts it firmly among the more productive operations in the country. Upper Lambourn sits in the heart of one of Britain's most famous training villages, and Portman has built a quiet reputation for doing things properly. A yard firing out that many winners isn't one that loses interest in a horse just because the early results haven't come. There's every chance this five-month break has been used to reset and regroup.

Head Girl is still only two years old, which matters more than anything else here. Some horses at this age are still working out what racing is actually about. Three unimpressive runs and a lengthy break might simply mean the team haven't yet found the right conditions or distance to let this horse show what it can do. At two, that's not a crisis — it's just part of the process. The question is whether that process is about to turn a corner.