Kottayam

The recent form makes for interesting reading. A second-place finish features in the last six runs, which is genuinely encouraging, but it sits alongside some disappointing efforts including a tenth and a fourth. The pattern is frustratingly inconsistent — good enough to be in the conversation, not quite good enough to win it. With a race just yesterday, Kottayam is clearly in active campaigning, which suggests the team around it believe there is a result in there somewhere.

Jockey Lee Edwards has been the regular partner, riding Kottayam in 6 of its 9 races without managing to find the winner's circle once. That is not necessarily a damning indictment of either horse or rider — sometimes a partnership just needs the right day and the right race to click — but six attempts without a win does raise the question of whether a change might shake things up. Trainer Dave Roberts, based at Kenley in Shropshire, has sent out 6 winners this season, so the yard clearly knows how to get a horse ready to win. The ingredients are there; Kottayam just has not been the one to deliver.

Racing mostly at Class 4 level — the bread and butter of the sport, competitive without being elite — Kottayam has had five runs at that level and drawn a blank in all of them. Class 4 is where horses like this are supposed to be competitive, which makes the winless record all the more puzzling. There is no obvious sign that stepping up or down in class is the answer, but something has to give eventually. At six years old, the clock is not exactly ticking loudly, but the window for a breakthrough is not unlimited either. For now, Kottayam remains one of racing's great what-ifs — a horse that has been close enough to taste it, but not yet close enough to claim it.