Yorkshire Queen

Tuer, who operates out of Birkby in North Yorkshire and has sent out 29 winners already this season, is clearly not short of confidence in this horse. After her run last week, he said he felt she was the best horse in the race despite not winning — which is either a trainer's natural optimism or a genuine belief that the win is coming. Probably worth taking seriously, given that his yard won a restricted series final at Goodwood last year with a horse called Love Talk, and Yorkshire Queen is being pointed at the same race. That is a specific, ambitious target, and trainers do not aim horses at finals they do not think can get there.

The plan is to try to win a race first — possibly dropping back to six furlongs, though Tuer says she handles seven furlongs fine as long as the track is not too testing — and then build from there. Jockey Oliver Stammers has been aboard for seven of her nine races without a win between them, but that is less damning than it sounds when the horse herself has not won at all. They are a partnership still waiting for the moment to click.

What makes Yorkshire Queen genuinely interesting is the trajectory. Zero wins from nine races sounds underwhelming on paper, but she is a three-year-old racing at Class 4 level — the bread and butter of British racing — with a trainer who clearly has bigger plans for her and believes she is better than what she has shown so far. Tuer also says she will improve again next year as a four-year-old, which suggests he sees this season as groundwork rather than the main event. The Goodwood target gives her story a destination. Whether she gets there is the question worth following.