Piecederesistance

The recent picture is not an encouraging one. The last six runs have produced no wins, with finishes of fifth, second, sixth, seventh, eighth, and a pulled-up effort — reading from that list in reverse, a second place is the only real glimmer. The horse is also returning from a break of around five months, so there will be questions about freshness and fitness on its comeback. That kind of absence can go either way — some horses come back rejuvenated, others take a run or two to find their rhythm again.

There are some reasons not to write Piecederesistance off entirely. Micky Hammond's yard at Middleham has been in decent form this season, sending out 25 winners, so the training team clearly knows how to get a horse ready to run well. The preferred trip of a mile and three to a mile and four furlongs — just over one and a half miles in plain terms — at least suits the horse's profile, winning once from 14 races at those distances. And regular rider Billy Garritty, who has partnered the horse nine times, has that one win together, which counts for something in terms of the pair knowing each other. At Class 4 level, which sits in the middle tier of British racing, the horse has one win from 18 races at that grade — a 6% rate — so it is not consistently punching above its weight, just struggling to convert.

Ultimately, Piecederesistance is the kind of horse that has shown enough over the years to keep getting entries, without quite showing enough to win them. A return to Pontefract — the scene of its one career highlight — might be the most optimistic scenario on offer.