Millbuie

What makes it stranger still is that Millbuie has spent almost its entire career — 19 of those 25 races — at Class 6, the entry level of British racing. These are not the big occasions or the glamorous tracks. Class 6 is where horses go to find a race they can win. Millbuie has tried 19 times at that level and come up empty on every single occasion.

Regular jockey Rowan Scott has been aboard for six of those attempts, and the pair are yet to trouble the judge together. The most recent run was just yesterday, so this is very much an ongoing story rather than a chapter that is wrapping up. Recent form reads 3-6-8-4-4-6, which shows flashes of respectability — a third place is in there — but also some deeply ordinary performances mixed in.

Trainer Ewan Whillans, operating out of Hawick in the Scottish Borders, clearly knows how to get horses winning — his yard has sent out 28 winners already this season, which is a healthy return for a regional operation. The puzzle is why that knowhow has not yet translated into a breakthrough for Millbuie. It is entirely possible Whillans is still searching for exactly the right race, the right day, the right conditions. Sometimes that combination just takes time. Sometimes it never comes. For Millbuie, the next race cannot come soon enough.