Keiths Boy

The recent form offers a small crumb of encouragement. His last four runs have all produced a finish in the top four, including back-to-back thirds and a fourth, suggesting he is running consistently without finding that extra gear when it matters most. The two worst results in his last six — an eighth and a seventh — bookend that more respectable middle stretch, so there is at least a shape to his form worth watching.

He is most often partnered by Benjamin P Kennedy, who has been aboard for five of his six races without managing a win together. At some point that partnership either clicks or it doesn't, and the clock is ticking. Trainer Seamus Fahey's yard has sent out just one winner this season, which puts Keiths Boy in context — this is not a powerhouse operation churning out winners every week, so expectations need to be measured accordingly. Keiths Boy raced 25 days ago and remains active, so another run is likely not far away.

At five years old with six races behind him and nothing in the win column yet, Keiths Boy needs to find something soon. He is not without ability — the placed finishes prove that — but there is a difference between being competitive and being a winner, and so far he has sat firmly on the wrong side of that line.