Dahab

The recent run of form tells a familiar story. A second-place finish six races ago remains the closest Dahab has come to glory, and since then the numbers have drifted in the wrong direction — fifth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventh, and thirteenth in its most recent outing. That last figure, a run just yesterday, suggests this is a horse still being kept busy and given chances to find its level, but the trajectory over these last few races is hard to put a positive spin on.

Jockey J M Sheridan has partnered Dahab nine times without a win between them — a combination that has clearly built familiarity but not yet results. Trainer D Broad operates out of Summerhill in County Meath, and it has been a quiet season for the yard with just one winner sent out so far. That context matters: when a trainer is having a lean time overall, it can be harder for a horse on the fringes of winning to get that final push over the line. Dahab is not a hopeless case — four placed efforts show it belongs on a racecourse — but at five years old, with 14 races and no wins, time is beginning to become a factor in whether that breakthrough ever arrives.