Swingforthefence

Regular jockey Sean Quinlan has been aboard for five of those seven races without managing to coax a win out of the partnership, and at Class 4 level — the sort of races where horses of this ability are supposed to be competitive — Swingforthefence has lost all three attempts. Class 4 is firmly mid-tier racing, so these are not contests against the elite. The fact that a win has not come at this level yet is the clearest sign of where things stand.

What makes this worth watching, though, is the yard behind it. Trainer Jennie Candlish, based in Basford, Staffordshire, has sent out 60 winners already this season — that is a productive operation by any measure, and she clearly knows how to get horses performing. Horses from a yard firing at that kind of volume do not tend to linger in losing streaks forever. Whether Swingforthefence can finally deliver on that promise is the open question.