Panthere Noir

Dace trains out of Billingshurst in West Sussex and has sent out six winners this season, so the yard clearly knows how to get a horse home in front. The fact that Panthere Noir hasn't been one of them — across five races at Class 5, the lowest tier of competition in Britain — is a telling detail. Class 5 is where horses run when they are learning the ropes or finding their level, and Panthere Noir hasn't been able to take advantage even there.

The recent form makes for slightly mixed reading. In the last six races, the horse has shown flickers — a third place finish, then another third — but sandwiched between those are some disappointing runs back in fourth, sixth, and eighth. It raced just yesterday, so it is clearly in active training and being kept busy. Whether that busy campaign eventually clicks into a first win remains to be seen, but at three years old there is still time to figure things out.