Russet Gold

Ryan is a trainer worth listening to. His yard has sent out 45 winners already this season, which tells you this is not a place where horses quietly fade away. And he has been specific about where he thinks Russet Gold belongs: a Listed race, one of the better races in Britain's racing calendar, is the target. That is an ambitious aim for a horse with two career wins, but Ryan's confidence is not without foundation.

The horse has contested eight of the top-level races in Britain and has yet to win one, which sounds bleak until you consider that those are the hardest races to win and simply being entered says something about the standard the yard believes he can reach. Racing at the top level consistently with little reward is a frustrating place to be, but it also means he has been rubbing shoulders with the best horses around. Jockey David Egan, who rode him to that last win at Redcar, captured it well afterwards — he called Russet Gold a classy horse, adding that his quality got him through the race rather than brute ability over the trip. He also noted the horse is a half-brother to Daahyeh, who Ryan famously won the Albany with. In other words, the family tree is a good one.

His recent form — finishing fifth, sixth, and then eighth three times in a row in his last six runs — does not make for exciting reading. He raced just yesterday, which shows he is active and in training, and Ryan has suggested a return in the second half of May once he has had time to come back to his best. The trainer's view is straightforward: there is no reason Russet Gold cannot keep improving with age. Whether that improvement arrives in time to deliver that elusive Listed success remains to be seen, but with a shrewd trainer, a quality pedigree, and a yard in form, the case for him is not as thin as the record might suggest.