Cannonball Queen

What makes the recent form particularly difficult reading is the consistency of it, and not in a good way. Her last six results, from most recent backwards, read 15-14-12-17-11-12. Those are finishing positions, not times — and they tell a story of a horse routinely finishing in the middle to back half of the field. The 17th-place finish stands out as her worst, but there is no dramatic improvement sandwiching it either. She has been racing regularly and racing without reward.

Killian Leonard has partnered her most often, riding her in five of her seven races together without a win to show for it. That is not necessarily a criticism of either horse or jockey — sometimes a partnership just has not found its spark yet. Cannonball Queen raced as recently as yesterday, so she is clearly fit and active, and her the yard have not given up on finding the right opportunity for her. Whether that opportunity comes soon is the question — but for now, the scorecard makes for sobering reading.