Katzoff

The recent form tells a similar story. In its last six races, Katzoff has a sixth and a second to show for its efforts, with the rest either well down the field or unfinished. That second place is genuinely the closest this horse has come to a win, and yet it keeps returning. Raced just one day ago, Katzoff is clearly still being kept in work and competing regularly — there is no suggestion from the yard that the well has run dry.

Mike O'Connor has ridden Katzoff five times and is yet to win on board, which means the partnership has now gone 0 from 5 without a victory together. That is not a reflection on O'Connor so much as a reflection on how this particular horse's career has gone — it simply has not translated effort into wins. What is striking is that Dan Skelton, one of the most prolific trainers in Britain right now, continues to run the horse. Skelton's yard at Alcester has sent out 198 winners this season alone — a remarkable number that puts him among the very busiest operations in the sport. When a trainer is firing in winners at that rate, every horse in the yard earns its keep or moves on. The fact that Katzoff is still there, still racing, still being entered up says something — whether that is loyalty, optimism, or the belief that a first win could yet come.

At nine years old, Katzoff is not a young horse. The clock is ticking on whether that career win ever arrives. But it raced yesterday, it has placed twice, and it is still in the hands of a yard that knows how to win races. Stranger things have happened.