Kahavari

The recent form makes the point well. In the last six races, Kahavari has posted 2-2-5-2-4-6, which means three runner-up finishes are sitting right there in the record. Three times second. Finishing second feels close, but in racing it counts for nothing in the win column, and at this point the pattern of nearness is starting to look like a characteristic rather than a coincidence. Jockey Craig Nichol has been aboard for all six of those runs without managing to convert, and while it would be unfair to lay this at his door alone, the partnership has yet to find whatever the horse needs to push past the leader when it counts.

Kahavari is a six-year-old racing at Class 4 level, which sits in the middle of the racing ladder — not the elite end, but not the bottom rung either. The yard behind the horse, run by Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero out of Oldcastle in Cheshire, is having a productive season with 42 winners already sent out, so this is not a struggling operation. A horse trained by a yard in that kind of form and still searching for a first win simply hasn't found its moment yet. The talent and the support are there — Kahavari just needs everything to click at once. Given how often it has been knocking on the door, that day may not be far off.