Valadero

That one victory came at Brighton on 6 August, just last week, which is where Valadero does his best work. Over his preferred distance of seven furlongs to a mile, he has won once from 14 attempts — roughly 1 win in every 14 races at that trip. It is not a standout record, but it is the closest thing he has to a strength. The trouble is consistency: in his last six races he has finished second once, third once, but also eighth, seventh, and sixth. He is a horse that can place on the day, but there is little pattern to predict when.

Brian Toomey's yard at Chalfont St Giles has sent out ten winners this season, so there is solid form in the stable, but Valadero has not benefited much from it. His regular partner Callum Shepherd has ridden him five times without a win, which suggests no special understanding between horse and jockey. At Class 6 level — the lowest standard of competitive racing — Valadero has managed to place in races but has never won, another small sign of a horse that scrapes along just below the level where he might find regular success. He is the kind of horse that keeps racing because he is honest and healthy enough to do so, and because somewhere in his past he proved he could win once. That one victory at Brighton last week is probably as good as it gets.