Thehardandthewild

The recent form tells its own story. Finishing 15th, 11th, 4th, and 9th in its last four completed races, the one bright spot is that fourth-place finish — a near-miss at a placing that at least suggests the horse can occasionally find something when the conditions suit. But it has not built on it, and the run before last, finishing 11th, was a step back in the wrong direction.

Sean O'Keeffe has ridden this horse five times without a winner between them. That is not necessarily a damning statistic on its own — a jockey can only do so much — but five attempts without even a place suggests they have not yet found the key to unlocking anything better. The horse has been given a short break of 73 days since its last race, which could simply be routine freshening up, or it could be an attempt to come back with a different approach. Either way, it returns with a lot to prove.