Valor Spirit

The recent form tells a mixed story. A third place, then a fourteenth — a rare blip in an otherwise tidy record — followed by a third, a fifth, a second, and most recently a sixth. That run out to fourteenth stands out as the one real outlier; every other run in the last six has been a respectable placing or near miss. The second place finish is the closest call, a result that will have the team at Sutton Bank wondering what might have been had things broken slightly differently.

Bryan Smart's yard in North Yorkshire has sent out 18 winners this season, so there is no shortage of form around Valor Spirit — the winners are coming, just not from this particular horse yet. Smart is a trainer who knows how to place a horse, and Valor Spirit has been kept largely at Class 4 level, one of the mid-tier grades of British racing. From five races at that level, the record reads zero wins from five, which is the core of the problem. The horse is competitive but not yet a winner at the grade it is being aimed at.

Raced just one day ago, Valor Spirit is clearly an active, busy horse still very much in its campaign. At three years old, there is time on its side — many horses take a while to figure out how to win, and some only click into gear once they find the right conditions or distance. Seven places from ten races is not a record to be embarrassed about; it just needs converting. Until that first win arrives, Valor Spirit remains one of the sport's near-misses: always there or thereabouts, always promising, and still leaving the yard — sorry, still leaving the yard — wondering when it will all finally come together.