My Dad Tom

What makes this an interesting situation is where My Dad Tom is competing. Class 5 is the lower end of the racing ladder in Britain — these are races designed to give horses a realistic chance of winning, and yet the horse has drawn a blank in all four attempts at that level. That's not a reflection of poor ambition from the team; it suggests they've already been trying to find the right opportunity, and the wins simply haven't come.

My Dad Tom is trained by Richard Hannon at his yard in Wiltshire, and that yard is one of the most productive operations in the country right now — 118 winners already this season is a serious number, the kind of output that puts Hannon firmly among the busiest and most successful trainers around. When a yard is firing at that rate, there's no shortage of belief that any individual horse can find its moment. My Dad Tom raced just yesterday, so clearly the yard — sorry, the team — haven't given up, and at three years old there is still time to turn things around. The key question is simply whether a first win is coming, or whether this is a horse that will keep making up the numbers for patient owners.