Sea Of Kings

The recent form figures — 2, 3, 2, 5, 4, 2 — are striking. Four runner-up finishes from six races suggests a horse that competes hard and travels well through a race, but may just lack that final burst when it matters most. Finishing second is the cruellest result in racing: all the effort, none of the reward. Whether Sea Of Kings simply needs to find a race where the winner isn't quite as good, or whether there's a gear it hasn't yet discovered, is the question everyone around this horse will be asking.

It is trained by Harry Eustace, based in Newmarket — the historic heartland of British flat racing, a town where horses and the people who care for them are essentially the local industry. Eustace's yard has sent out 23 winners already this season, which tells you this is an active, capable operation. Having a horse that keeps finishing second isn't a failure of training — it often means the horse is being placed in the right races and running to its ability. Sea Of Kings raced just one day ago, so it is very much a horse in the middle of its story rather than at the end of it.

The honest summary is this: Sea Of Kings has not won a race yet, but it keeps showing up and keeps being competitive. In a sport where plenty of horses never trouble the judge at all, finishing second four times in six outings is not nothing. The next chapter could go either way — a breakthrough win, or more near misses. Either way, it is clearly a horse that has not read the script yet.