Hollywood Harmon

What's slightly encouraging, if you're looking hard for silver linings, is that recent form shows some consistency — finishing fifth, fifth, second, and third in its last four completed races. That placed finish, a second, suggests Hollywood Harmon is competitive enough to be in the mix, just not competitive enough to win. It's the kind of horse that runs its race, finishes honest, and leaves punters nodding politely rather than punching the air.

The level it competes at tells you something important here. Class 5 is the bottom rung of British racing's ladder — these are the races where horses who haven't been winning at higher levels come to find their feet, or in some cases, to quietly wind down their careers. Hollywood Harmon has run five of its nine races at this level and still hasn't won one. That's not a disaster — plenty of horses never win a race and still have careers — but it does suggest this is a horse that gives its the yard a decent afternoon out rather than a trip to the winner's enclosure. Last raced just 21 days ago, it's still active and clearly sound, which at nine years old is something worth respecting in itself.