Pinot Rouge

What's interesting about Pinot Rouge is the class level. The horse has run 11 times in Class 3 races — which sit just below the top tier of British racing — without winning once. That's a tough ask for any horse, and it suggests the team may have been pitching Pinot Rouge into company that's simply a bit too sharp. The fact that the first career win came at Hexham, a track in the same part of the country as Corbett's yard, may be no coincidence — home comforts and familiar ground can matter more than people realise.

The partnership with jockey Nathan Moscrop hasn't clicked yet on paper — 0 wins from 8 races together — though that may say more about the competitive level than any lack of effort. Corbett's yard has sent out 11 winners this season, so the operation clearly knows how to get a horse to the front. Pinot Rouge has been something of the exception rather than the rule.

The horse raced just one day ago and is clearly still being kept busy, which suggests there's still belief in the camp that more can be squeezed out of these legs. Recent form shows a seventh and a fourth in the last two completed races, so the horse isn't out of contention — just not finding the extra gear needed to win. At 8 years old, the opportunity to add to that solitary win is narrowing, but Hexham showed it's possible. Whether lightning can strike twice at the same spot remains to be seen.