Primal

What Primal does have in its favour is the stable behind it. Andrew Balding's yard at Kingsclere in Hampshire has sent out 202 winners this season alone — that is a remarkable level of output, and it tells you this is one of the most productive operations in British racing right now. Balding is not a trainer who runs horses for the sake of it, so the fact that Primal keeps being put into races suggests the team still believes there is something worth finding.

At two years old, horses are still learning the job. Some take half a dozen races just to work out what is being asked of them. With only three races under its belt and a top-four finish already on the record, Primal is not a hopeless cause — just one that has not yet clicked into gear.