Sioux Grit

The recent form makes for bleak reading. Finishing 12th, 10th, 12th, and 14th in four of its last six outings, Sioux Grit has spent most of its recent racing life at the back of the pack. The one moment of encouragement in that run is a fifth-place finish two races ago — still not a place in the official money in most fields, but at least a sign that the horse can get closer to the action when things fall right. Whether that represents a turning point or just a one-off is the question the team at Collinstown will be asking.

That yard, run by R P Burns in Co Westmeath, has sent out five winners already this season, so the operation clearly knows how to get a horse ready to win. The challenge is finding the right opportunity for a horse with Sioux Grit's profile — one who, despite racing eleven times, is still searching for that first victory. Racing just yesterday, Sioux Grit is clearly fit and active, and Burns has not given up on the horse. Sometimes it takes patience. Sometimes the right race at the right moment unlocks something. But the record is what it is, and for now, Sioux Grit remains one of racing's nearly — actually, not even nearly — horses.