Saucats

The recent form tells a slightly more encouraging story. Saucats raced just yesterday and has been out six times in a reasonable spell of activity, with finishes of 2nd, 4th, 5th, 4th, 9th, and 10th reading from most recent backwards. That second place is genuinely interesting — it shows the horse can get close when things fall right, and the back-to-back fourth-place finishes suggest a level of consistency in the midfield. The 9th and 10th earlier in the sequence are less pretty, but horses can have off days, and the improvement since then is noticeable.

What makes Saucats a slightly puzzling case is where it has been running. Eight of its 16 races have come at Class 5 level — the lower end of the racing ladder, where the competition is at its most winnable — and it has still not broken through, going 0 from 8 at that level. For context, Class 5 is precisely the kind of race that horses like Saucats are supposed to win eventually. Not doing so after eight attempts is the kind of detail that makes you wonder whether a change of tactic or race type might unlock something new.

The trainer is Joe Tickle, based down in Stoodleigh in Devon, and the yard has been in decent form this season with 20 winners sent out. That is a yard that clearly knows how to get horses ready to win, which suggests Tickle sees something worth persisting with in Saucats. Whether the horse can reward that patience and finally get its nose in front remains to be seen — but with yesterday's run still fresh in its legs and a second place on recent record, there is at least something to work with.