Mr Globalist

Trained by Lizzie Quinlan at Bolton Mill in Cumbria, Mr Globalist competes at Class 5, which is the entry level of British racing — the kind of races where a win should theoretically be most achievable. And yet, across nine attempts at that level, the scorecard reads zero from nine. Quinlan's yard has sent out four winners this season, so the operation clearly knows how to get a horse to the line first. Mr Globalist, it seems, has other ideas.

Peter Kavanagh has been in the saddle for seven of those 38 races and is yet to ride the horse to a win, though it is worth pointing out that nobody else has managed it either. The pair raced together just one day ago — Mr Globalist's most recent run — so this partnership is very much ongoing, still searching for that elusive breakthrough.

Five places from 38 races tells you this horse is genuinely competitive. It is not being pulled up, not finishing last, not embarrassing itself. It finishes close. It just does not finish first. At some point a horse like this either finds the right race on the right day, or it becomes a footnote — the nearly-horse that never quite got there. Mr Globalist has raced 38 times without winning a single one. Whether race 39 changes that is the only question left worth asking.