Regal Glory

What keeps things interesting is that Regal Glory is clearly still trying. The horse raced just yesterday, and recent form shows a mix of mid-pack finishes alongside a couple of promising placed efforts — a second and two fourths among the last six runs. That suggests there's still some competitive spark, even if the winner's enclosure has felt very distant for a very long time.

The partnership with jockey Luke Morris has produced that one career win from 10 races together, a 10% win rate that is actually five times better than the horse's overall record. That single number does a lot of heavy lifting. It suggests Morris gets more out of Regal Glory than most, which is worth knowing. The trainer, Roger Fell, operates out of Nawton in North Yorkshire and has had a productive season with 23 winners from the yard — so this isn't a struggling operation. Regal Glory is simply one of those horses that tests everyone's patience.

Over distances of seven furlongs to a mile, the horse has won 1 from 14 races — about 1 in every 14 attempts — which is where it looks most at home. That one Lingfield win came over this sort of trip, on an all-weather track in the depths of winter, and it remains the defining moment of a career that has produced more near-misses than highlights. For anyone following Regal Glory, hope springs eternal — but it has been springing for a long time now.