Maestrow

What offers a note of optimism is where Maestrow is trained. Ben Pauling's yard in Naunton, Gloucestershire, has sent out 84 winners already this season — that's a serious operation with the staff, horses, and know-how to get animals performing. When a trainer is firing in winners at that kind of volume, it tells you they're not short of ability in the string. The fact that Maestrow is still being entered and raced — it ran just yesterday — suggests Pauling's team still believe there's something to work with here.

At this early stage, three races is a small sample. Some horses take time to figure out what's being asked of them, and a yard with 84 winners this season is not going to keep running a horse that has no future. Whether Maestrow can turn things around and reward that patience is the question worth watching.