Mr Mahler

Jockey Tom Midgley has been aboard for six of those races and is still waiting for his first win alongside the horse. Their partnership has produced nothing in terms of victories, though it clearly hasn't put the team off — the combination keeps returning, which suggests there's belief somewhere that the right day might still come. Mr Mahler has been second as recently as his last six runs, so the talent to trouble the leaders clearly exists. The frustrating part is converting that into a win.

He operates almost exclusively at Class 5, the entry level of British racing, and has run 12 times at that tier without winning once. For context, Class 5 is where horses tend to compete when they're not quite good enough to mix it at higher levels. Failing to win there doesn't mean a horse is hopeless — plenty of competitive animals just find a way to be beaten — but it does suggest Mr Mahler may be one of life's bridesmaids.

His trainer, Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith, are based at High Eldwick in West Yorkshire and have had a productive season, sending out 42 winners. That's a yard that clearly knows how to prepare a horse to win, which makes Mr Mahler something of an outlier in their string. He raced just one day ago, so he's very much in active campaign, and the team clearly hasn't given up on him finding that elusive first victory. Whether it ever arrives is another question — but after 17 attempts, you'd have to say the optimism is admirable.