Sticktothescript

At five years old, Sticktothescript is not a youngster still finding its feet. There is an expectation at this stage that a horse has figured out what it is doing, which makes the blank record across five attempts all the harder to explain away. Having raced as recently as yesterday, the team clearly believe there is something worth persisting with — and Oliver McKiernan's yard at Rathcoole in County Dublin has sent out four winners this season, so they are not short of knowing what a good horse looks like.

McKiernan is not a household name, but four winners from a season suggests a small, workmanlike operation that picks its spots carefully. Whether Sticktothescript ever becomes one of those winners remains the open question. Right now, the evidence is thin.