Snow Boots

The recent form tells a similar story. Over the last six races, the best finish has been fifth — the rest a mixture of sixth, eighth, and eleventh. These are not narrow defeats or unlucky near-misses. Snow Boots is finishing in the bottom half of most fields it enters, and doing so regularly enough that a pattern has firmly established itself.

What makes this a little surprising is the company Snow Boots keeps. Class 6 is the entry level of British racing — the races designed for horses that struggle to win at higher grades. Nine of Snow Boots' fourteen races have come at that level, and it has still not managed a single win or place. That is a tough record to absorb. When a horse cannot find its way into the top three at the lowest rung of the ladder, questions naturally arise about whether a win is coming at all.

The trainer is Tony Carroll, whose yard in Cropthorne, Worcestershire, has been in excellent form this season — 136 winners is a serious number, and it shows Carroll knows how to get horses performing. The fact that Snow Boots has not yet broken through is not a reflection on the stable's ability; plenty of horses simply take longer to find their moment, and Carroll clearly has the tools to help when the penny eventually drops. Snow Boots raced just yesterday, so this is very much an active campaign — the team has not given up, and that counts for something.

Whether that moment arrives is the open question. Fourteen races is a long wait, but racing has a way of surprising people, and stranger turnarounds have happened.