Little She

The four-year-old has never crossed the line first in any of its 14 races to date, but it has picked up four placed finishes along the way, meaning it has run into the prizes roughly once in every three or four attempts. That is not nothing. Plenty of horses in this game never get near the front end at all. The recent form makes for interesting reading too: in the last six outings, Little She has finished second and third twice each, slotting in behind the winner on four of those six occasions. That is a horse that is consistently competitive — it just cannot quite find that extra gear when it matters most.

Most of its racing life has been spent at Class 5 level, which is where a lot of horses find their natural home, and over eight races at that level it is still searching for that breakthrough win. The frustrating thing is that the form suggests it belongs there — it is placing regularly, not getting beaten out of sight. Sometimes a horse just needs one thing to click: a different distance, a different day, a patch of ground that suits it just right.

Marcus Tregoning, who trains Little She, has sent out four winners already this season, so the yard is clearly in decent enough shape. Tregoning is a trainer with a quiet reputation for knowing his horses well, and the fact that Little She is still in training and racing — it ran just yesterday — suggests the team believe there is a win in there somewhere. Whether that confidence is rewarded remains to be seen, but with a run of four placed efforts from the last six races, Little She is at least knocking on the door. Horse racing has a way of eventually opening it.