Our Hero Matty

The recent run of form makes for tough reading. Looking at the last six races, the finishing positions read 10, 7, 7, 3, 6, and 10 — that third-place finish a few runs back is the closest thing to a bright spot, a hint that the ability is somewhere in there, even if it rarely translates into a serious challenge for the win. It raced just yesterday, so this is a horse very much in the thick of a busy campaign right now.

Jockey Ben Robinson has been the regular partner, riding Our Hero Matty in six of those ten races together without managing a winner. That is not necessarily a reason to write either of them off — horses and jockeys can take time to click — but six races is a meaningful sample, and so far the combination has not cracked the code. The horse typically lines up in Class 5, which is the bread-and-butter level of British racing, not the glamour end of the sport, but competitive enough that getting beaten repeatedly here does raise questions. Four Class 5 races, zero wins.

What makes the situation slightly more puzzling is the trainer. Our Hero Matty is trained by Brian Ellison at his yard in Norton, North Yorkshire, and Ellison is no also-ran — his team has sent out 47 winners already this season, which is a genuinely productive operation. A yard firing out winners at that rate knows what it is doing, which suggests there is patient belief that this horse will eventually find its moment. Whether that moment comes soon is the question every racing fan following Our Hero Matty will be asking.