Late Claim

The immediate picture is not encouraging. Late Claim's last six runs have yielded a fourth and two more fourths, but also three finishes well down the field — an eighth, a seventh, and another eighth most recently. There is inconsistency here, the kind that can frustrate both trainer and owner, with the horse capable of running respectably one day and mysteriously disappearing the next. Trainer John Mackie at Church Broughton in Derbyshire has found some success this season with sixteen winners from the yard, but Late Claim is not one of them, at least not yet.

The horse is most often partnered with Finlay Bassett, though that pairing has produced no wins from six races together. In Class 5 races — the lower tiers of British racing — Late Claim has won none of its five attempts, which suggests it may be pitched at the right level most of the time, just unable to get the job done consistently. Still active and racing regularly, Late Claim remains a work in progress, a horse that needs to rediscover whatever spark allowed it to win at Lingfield last winter.