Hostility

The recent form makes for interesting reading. Four consecutive fourth-place finishes before that — close enough to smell the prize money, not close enough to collect it — before a seventh and then a second last time out. That runner-up finish is the tantalising detail here: Hostility clearly has the ability to threaten, but turning those near-misses into a first career win remains the outstanding challenge.

Most of Hostility's racing life has been spent at Class 5 level, which is the entry-level tier of British flat racing. Going 0 from 7 at that level is a puzzling stat — these are the races you'd expect a horse with genuine ability to eventually crack. And yet here we are. Trained by David O'Meara at his yard in Upper Helmsley, North Yorkshire, Hostility is in capable hands. O'Meara's operation has sent out 107 winners already this season, which speaks to a yard that clearly knows how to get horses winning. The fact that this particular horse hasn't managed it yet is one of those stubborn mysteries that racing regularly throws up.

Raced just yesterday and still active, Hostility is clearly fit and being kept busy. The question now is whether the team can find the right opportunity to finally turn a place into a win — because the pieces look like they should fit. They just haven't yet.