Lifeplan

But the detail in the recent form tells a different story. Looking at the last five races in order, Lifeplan has come eleventh, eleventh again, third, first, and first — which means those two wins came early in that sequence, and the horse has since finished eleventh twice. That's a dramatic slide. Worse, the York victory now sits 14 months in the past, a long drought for a horse this young. Trained by Declan Carroll at Malton, a yard that has already saddled 24 winners this season and clearly knows how to get horses ready, Lifeplan was once moving in the right direction. Now it feels like something has stalled.

The horse raced just a day ago, so the yard are still trying. Whether that most recent run will mark a turning point or confirm a downward trend remains to be seen. At three years old, Lifeplan still has time to rediscover the form that earned a Class 1 victory, but the sequence of two eleventh-place finishes suggests the current campaign is proving difficult. This is a horse with proven ability in top races but very much a work in progress.