Son Of Wind

The recent form makes for sobering reading. Looking at his last six races, he has finished outside the places in two of them entirely, and his best effort in that run was a fifth. No wins, no close calls at the line. It has now been 23 months since that Chelmsford success, which in racing terms is a long time to wait for a repeat. Most of his career has been spent in Class 5 company — the bread-and-butter level of British racing, where the fields are modest and the prize money is modest to match — and even there he has drawn a blank, with 0 wins from 8 races at that level. That is the kind of record that raises honest questions about when, or whether, the stars will align again.

What keeps the story alive is that he raced just yesterday, which means his trainer Matthew J Smith, based at Kilmessan in County Meath, is still actively campaigning him and clearly believes there is a race to be won somewhere. Smith's yard has sent out 8 winners this season, so this is not a stable short of ability — Son Of Wind simply hasn't been the horse to add to that tally yet. For a casual racegoer, he is the kind of horse worth watching rather than backing: present, trying, and occasionally flashing enough form to suggest the right day might still come.