Rajawail

The numbers are stark. In 27 career races, Rajawail has managed just two placed finishes — meaning it has finished second or third twice, and left empty-handed on every other occasion. That is a win rate of exactly nothing, across a career that has stretched long enough to give the horse every opportunity to break through. Its last six runs read 6-10-5-7-8-12, which means even a top-five finish is becoming a rarity. The most recent of those came 12th place, just one day ago.

Jockey Faye McManoman has been aboard for 16 of those 27 races — more than half the partnership's shared history — and the pair have yet to win together. That kind of long-running combination without a win is unusual; normally a trainer would switch things up if results weren't coming, so there is clearly a belief somewhere in the yard that the right day might still arrive. Trainer Brian Rothwell, based at Oswaldkirk in North Yorkshire, has sent out one winner this season from his yard, so it is a small operation where results are hard-won.

Rajawail competes almost exclusively at Class 6, which is the lowest level of racing in Britain — the entry point, where horses who struggle elsewhere come to find their level. In 16 races at that grade, the win count remains zero. That is not a criticism so much as an honest reflection of where things stand. Some horses find a race that suits them, on the right day, on the right ground — and perhaps that moment is still to come. But with 27 races on the clock and the recent form pointing in the wrong direction, Rajawail is a horse that asks more questions than it answers right now.