Lavender Bloom

What gives the picture a more optimistic tint is her most recent run. That second place came just a day ago, meaning Lavender Bloom heads into whatever comes next in the kind of form that at least has her knocking on the door. Horses that have just placed are often sharper and more confident for the experience, and at three years old she is still a work in progress — most horses this age are.

She is trained by Steph Hollinshead at Upper Longdon in Staffordshire, a yard that has sent out seven winners already this season. That is a useful benchmark: Hollinshead is not running horses for the sake of it, and the fact that the team keeps finding winners suggests Lavender Bloom is in capable hands when it comes to placing a horse in the right race at the right time. Getting that first win on the board is the immediate goal, and with a yard in decent form around her, the opportunity should come.