No Rematch

That one win came over fences at Chepstow, and according to Samuel Drinkwater, who trains No Rematch at his yard in Strensham, Worcestershire, it told him everything he needed to know. This is a horse built for deep, clinging, muddy ground and big fences — old-fashioned in shape, heavy-set rather than athletic-looking, and entirely in its element when the conditions are brutal. Drinkwater is clearly fond of the horse and has been patient with it, crediting the owners for giving it the time it needed rather than rushing it through races it was never going to win. That patience is worth noting: plenty of horses with this kind of record would have been moved on long ago.

The frustration, as the trainer has acknowledged, is one of logistics. That Chepstow win leaves the team in an awkward position — they need two more runs over fences before the horse qualifies for the races it is genuinely suited to, which means enduring a couple of stepping-stone outings before it can be pointed at the kind of deep-ground staying chase it was apparently born to run. At Class 5 level, the lowest rung of British racing, No Rematch has run 12 times without winning — 0 from 12 — which sounds damning, but may simply reflect that it has been asked to perform on the wrong ground, at the wrong time, in races that do not suit it.

Regular rider Miss Imogen Mathias has been aboard for 17 of those 26 races without a win between them, and No Rematch raced just yesterday, finishing ninth of late. A win rate of roughly 1 in every 26 races is hard to dress up. But Drinkwater's yard has sent out eight winners this season and clearly knows what it is doing — and if No Rematch ever finds itself in a deep-ground chase at Chepstow when the mud is flying, it might finally make sense of a career that has spent most of its time waiting for the right moment.