Play By The Rules

Most of its racing has come in Class 5 company — the bread-and-butter level where horses of this type spend their careers — and even there the record reads just 1 win from 9 races. That 11% win rate at that level, roughly 1 in every 9 races, suggests a horse that can get close but rarely seals the deal. The places — five of them across its career — show it is not disgraced, just not quite good enough to win consistently.

David Noonan is the most regular partner in the saddle, the pair having teamed up 8 times for that 1 career win, a win rate of 12%, or roughly 1 in every 8 rides together. The horse is trained by Adam Nicol, whose yard is based up in Seahouses on the Northumberland coast — about as far north as British racing gets. Nicol has sent out 26 winners this season, so the operation clearly knows what it is doing, even if Play By The Rules has not been among the beneficiaries lately. It raced just yesterday, so it is very much an active runner, and with that placed effort fresh in the book, the yard will be hoping a change of fortune is closer than the last 39 months might suggest.