Laafy

What makes the situation interesting is the strength of the yard behind it. Trainer Brian Ellison operates out of Norton in North Yorkshire, and his team has sent out 43 winners already this season — a genuinely productive operation that clearly knows how to get horses winning. When a stable is firing at that rate, you'd hope some of that form would rub off on every horse in the string. For Laafy, that moment is still waiting to arrive.

At 10 years old, time is not exactly on its side. Horses at that age are seasoned veterans, and if the results haven't come yet, the question worth asking is whether they ever will. Still racing and still trying, though — and with Ellison's yard in such good nick, stranger things have happened.