Ignition

What makes this particularly striking is where Ignition has been competing. Class 6 is the bottom rung of British racing — the level where horses are supposed to find their feet and pick up wins. Ignition has run ten times at that level and come up empty every time. That is not a horse unlucky to be placed in tough races; that is a horse struggling to beat the most beatable fields on the circuit.

Faulkner's yard at Devauden in Monmouthshire has sent out 17 winners this season, so this is clearly not a training operation that lacks for ability. Ignition simply has not found a way to justify its place at the front of any race yet. Raced just four days ago and still active, the team clearly believes there is something worth persisting with — and every horse, in theory, has a race it can win. The question for Ignition is whether that race will ever come.