Motawaared

That said, the trend since those encouraging placings has been in the wrong direction. The last four runs have all produced finishes of 6th or 7th, suggesting Motawaared has struggled to recapture that earlier spark. Racing almost exclusively at Class 4 level — the kind of mid-tier contests that form the backbone of a working week on the British racing calendar — the horse has gone 0 from 4 at that grade. It is a level where you would expect a horse with genuine ability to find a way through eventually, which makes the recent slump a concern.

What works in Motawaared's favour is the stable behind it. Jim Goldie, operating out of Uplawmoor in Lanarkshire, has sent out 88 winners already this season — a remarkable output that marks the yard as one of the more productive operations in Britain right now. Goldie has a well-earned reputation for placing horses patiently and knowing exactly where they belong in the pecking order. A trainer firing out winners at that rate does not carry passengers for long, so the fact that Motawaared is still in training and raced as recently as yesterday suggests the team believes there is a race to be won somewhere.

The task now is finding it. With seven races worth of experience and a form line that has cooled considerably, Motawaared needs a race that fits — the right conditions, the right company, and perhaps a little fortune — to get off the mark. In a Goldie yard running this hot, the opportunity will come. Whether Motawaared can take it is the question.