Saxon Cross

That fourth-place finish is the closest Saxon Cross has come to a podium recently, and it hints that the ability is there in some form. But ability without results is a hard thing to build on, and right now the wins column remains stubbornly empty. For context, a horse that races eight times without winning isn't unusual — plenty of horses find their niche eventually — but Saxon Cross hasn't yet found the race or the conditions that bring out its best.

On the plus side, it raced just yesterday, so it is fit and active, and it is trained by Stuart Edmunds, whose yard in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire has sent out 24 winners already this season. That is a stable in decent form, and horses trained by someone who clearly knows how to get results are rarely without hope. The question for Saxon Cross is whether Edmunds can find the right opportunity to unlock what, so far, has been a frustratingly quiet career.