Ushuaia Dancer

Competing at Class 5 — the entry-level tier of British racing — Ushuaia Dancer has had six attempts at that grade and drawn a blank every time. To put that in perspective, Class 5 is where horses go when they are trying to find a race they can win; it is the most accessible level available. Going winless across six attempts there tells you this is a horse operating at the very limit of what it can achieve, yet somehow keeps threatening without delivering.

Trained by Justin Landy at a small yard in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, Ushuaia Dancer is part of a modest operation that has sent out three winners this season. Landy's team clearly keep this horse ticking over — it raced just yesterday, which speaks to a horse that is fit, sound, and still being asked the question. At eight years old, there is no great mystery to solve here; this is simply a horse that finds places easier than wins, and whose career has settled into a familiar, if slightly maddening, pattern of nearly-but-not-quite.