Orinoco Walk

At eight years old, Orinoco Walk is no youngster finding its feet. Most horses at this stage of their career have accumulated at least a handful of memorable moments, but the recent form figures of 12-9-5-7-9-4 tell a story of a horse that has spent most of its racing life finishing in the middle of the pack or further back. The sole glimmer is that fourth-place finish, which at least suggests there is some ability lurking — but it has not translated into anything more meaningful, and the subsequent runs have drifted back toward midfield and worse.

What is slightly unusual here is that Orinoco Walk raced just yesterday, so this is a horse very much still in active training and being aimed at races. That counts for something — it means the team clearly still believes there is a race to be won somewhere. Whether that optimism is well-founded is another question entirely.