Remember'hesmine

The recent run of form reads 5-3-4-4-2-7, which is the kind of sequence that keeps a team hopeful without giving them much to celebrate. That second place is the highlight — a moment where Remember'hesmine came agonisingly close — but the form either side of it is modest at best. More striking than the numbers, though, is the gap that follows them. This horse has not set foot on a racecourse in roughly 22 months, a substantial absence by any measure. A horse can change a great deal in that time — for better or worse — and nobody outside the yard really knows what to expect on its return.

Trainer P G Fahey has sent out two winners this season, so the operation is ticking over, and regular partner Mr A P Fahey has ridden this horse in all seven of its races together without a win to show for it. That's a long partnership without a payoff. Whether the combination clicks on a comeback run remains the big question. For a horse carrying a winless record into what could be a fresh chapter, everything now hinges on whether that long break has done it any good — or whether the answers are simply the same ones as before.