Poetry Man

What makes the record particularly tough reading is that Poetry Man has been doing most of his racing at Class 4 level — solid, competitive races that aren't the very top tier but are no walkover either — and has failed to win any of his 10 races at that grade. Zero from ten. He has placed four times across his career, so he's not disgracing himself, but there's a gap between being competitive and actually getting the job done.

The partnership with jockey Jonathon Bewley is the most consistent thread in his career. Together they've teamed up 15 times, producing that one win — so they've clicked once in every 15 attempts, a 7% win rate. Jonathon is the son of trainer George Bewley, who runs the yard out of Colby in Cumbria, and the family operation has sent out 7 winners this season, so the stable is clearly capable of finding the right opportunity for the right horse. The question is whether Poetry Man can find his moment again.

He raced just yesterday, which means he's very much still in training and still being aimed at races. At 8 years old, he's an experienced campaigner who knows what racecourses look like. That one win at Catterick Bridge will always be in the record books — it's just a matter of whether there's another chapter still to be written.