Kaviar Wood

The recent form does at least offer a small reason to keep watching. Over the last six races, Kaviar Wood has finished fourth on three occasions and second once — that runner-up spot being the closest it has come to a breakthrough. A horse that keeps finishing in and around the frame without winning can be a frustrating thing to follow, but it does suggest there is something there, even if the finishing kick has not quite materialised when it counts.

Conor Ring has been in the saddle for five of those races and is yet to ride the horse to a win, though through no obvious fault of his own — the partnership simply has not found the right moment yet. Trainer Evan Williams, based in the Vale of Glamorgan, is no small operation. His yard has sent out 48 winners already this season, so he clearly knows how to get horses winning. The fact that Kaviar Wood remains stuck on zero is more a reflection of the horse's own ceiling so far than any shortcoming in the training.

Racing almost exclusively at Class 5 — the more modest end of the sport in Britain — Kaviar Wood has had every opportunity to find a race it can win, going 0 from 5 at that level. For context, Class 5 is where you would expect horses of this profile to be competitive, so the lack of a win there is telling. At six years old, time is not running out entirely, but the window for a first win is not getting any wider either. Raced just 28 days ago, the horse is still active, and the team clearly believe there is a race to be won somewhere. Whether Kaviar Wood can finally deliver on that belief is the question hanging over every run from here.