Lady Lauren

The level she competes at is worth understanding. Class 6 is the entry level of British racing — the races designed for horses that are still learning the game or finding their feet. Lady Lauren has run four times at that level without winning, which is a gentle reminder that even at the more accessible end of the sport, winning is genuinely hard. Horses that look moderate in defeat would beat almost anything you or I have ever seen in real life. But at some point, a horse needs to convert those placings into a win, and that is the challenge sitting in front of her team right now.

She is trained by Ed de Giles, who operates out of Ledbury in Herefordshire. It is a small yard rather than a racing powerhouse, but de Giles has sent out eight winners already this season, which shows there is genuine ability in the operation to get horses ready to win. Lady Lauren has clearly been placed competitively — those four placed runs did not happen by accident — so the preparation is not the problem. The final piece of the puzzle is finding the right race at the right moment for everything to click.

At three years old, time is still on her side. Horses develop throughout their careers, and plenty have taken longer than nine races to open their account. What Lady Lauren does have going for her is consistency at the business end of races — she turns up, she competes, and she finishes close. For a yard looking to add to its tally of winners this season, she is the kind of horse where one good day could change the whole picture.