Bahtiyar

The recent form makes this even more striking. In the last six races, Bahtiyar has finished 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 4th, and 4th, most recent first. That is a horse that is consistently competitive, consistently involved, and consistently denied. A sequence like that is almost poetic in its frustration — you would be forgiven for thinking a win must be coming, yet that is precisely what racing tends to do to optimists.

Most of those efforts have come in Class 5 company, which represents the lower end of the sport's ladder. Bahtiyar has run 20 times at that level without winning — which, rather than suggesting the horse is outclassed, actually suggests the opposite. It is good enough to be placed, good enough to make rivals work, but something about sealing the deal has remained just out of reach. Jockey Mr Ben Sutton has partnered the horse seven times without a victory between them, though given the overall record, that says more about the horse's curious relationship with winning than anything else.

Trainer Max Young, based at Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, has sent out one winner from his yard this season, so this is a small operation with limited firepower. Bahtiyar raced just yesterday and remains active, which tells you this is a horse in the thick of a campaign right now. Whether that elusive first win is still out there somewhere is impossible to say, but at 8 years old, with 29 races run and the placed form still coming regularly, Bahtiyar continues to be exactly competitive enough to keep everyone interested — and exactly frustrating enough to keep everyone waiting.