Victress

What does offer some encouragement is the yard behind her. Clive Cox operates out of Lambourn in Berkshire, one of the most respected training centres in Britain, and his team has sent out 48 winners already this season — a serious output that tells you this is a stable that knows how to get horses ready to perform. When a trainer of that quality keeps running a horse, it usually means they believe there's something worth persevering with.

Victress raced just yesterday and is clearly in an active campaign. The fourth-place finish in her most recent completed run suggests she isn't miles off the pace — fourth means she was beaten, but not embarrassed. The question now is whether she can find the small improvement needed to start converting those near-misses into something more meaningful.