Highfield Sunshine

The recent form makes for uncomfortable reading. Over the last six races, the finishing positions read 3-6-5-7-11-10 (working backwards from the most recent), meaning that third place a little while back now feels like a distant highlight. Since then, Highfield Sunshine has drifted further back in the field, and with a race just yesterday, the team at the Quinn yard will be working hard to figure out where the improvement is going to come from.

That yard — run by the father-and-son partnership of John and Sean Quinn, based at Norton in North Yorkshire — is clearly capable of getting horses to win. They've sent out 44 winners this season alone, so it isn't a question of the training operation lacking ability. The puzzle is why Highfield Sunshine specifically hasn't been able to convert. Regular jockey Jason Hart hasn't cracked it either: in 10 races together, the pair have yet to win, which makes theirs one of racing's more frustrating partnerships on paper.

Most of Highfield Sunshine's races have come at Class 5 level — the entry-level tier of British flat racing, where the fields are typically made up of horses without a long list of wins to their name. Going winless in 8 races at that level is the detail that will concern the yard most, because if a horse can't win at the lowest grade, the options become limited. At some point, a change of tactics, trip, or ground conditions might unlock something — or it might not. For now, Highfield Sunshine remains a horse that turns up, tries hard, and goes home without the prize.