Zuul

The horse is trained by Rebecca Menzies at her yard in Morden, Durham — a stable that has sent out 36 winners this season, so it clearly knows how to get horses to the line first. Zuul just hasn't been one of them. Regular jockey Nathan Moscrop has partnered the horse 11 times without a win between them, which tells its own story about the ceiling this partnership seems to have hit. Eleven attempts is a meaningful sample — that's not bad luck, that's a pattern.

Zuul typically competes at Class 5, which is the entry-level tier of British racing — essentially the races where horses with modest records get their best chance of winning. In 16 races at that level, Zuul has drawn a blank every time. That's a sobering number. The horse has been given plenty of opportunities at the most accessible grade available and hasn't converted a single one.

Recent form offers the faintest glimmer — a third, a fourth, and another third in the last few runs suggest it is at least competitive, not completely out of its depth. And crucially, Zuul raced just yesterday, so it remains active and in training. When Menzies first took the horse on, she felt it would show up best on faster, drier ground in spring, and that detail is worth holding onto. It's the kind of horse that may need specific conditions to produce its best — and if those conditions arrive and the right race comes along, the long wait for that first win might finally end. Might.