Dangerous Touch

The recent form is actually eye-catching, even without a victory attached to it. In its last six races, Dangerous Touch has finished second three times and third once, which tells you this is a horse running consistently well at its level — it just keeps finding one too good. That kind of form would suggest a win is close, but that is easier said than done when you have gone 16 races without one.

Jockey Sean Bowen has been alongside for 12 of those 16 races and the pair have yet to get off the mark together. Bowen is one of the most respected riders in the sport, so the fact that he keeps coming back to the horse suggests there is genuine belief in what Dangerous Touch can do — it just has not translated into a first-place finish yet. They have built a partnership that deserves a result.

The horse spends most of its time in Class 4 company — mid-tier racing, competitive but not elite — and has run 12 of its 16 races at that level without a win. That is a significant statistic. It is not being outclassed; it is simply being edged out. Trainer Olly Murphy, based at Wilmcote in Warwickshire, runs a yard that has sent out 146 winners this season alone, so he clearly knows how to get horses winning. That Dangerous Touch has not broken through yet is one of the more stubborn puzzles on the yard's books.

Currently active and racing as recently as today, this is a horse whose breakthrough moment — if it comes — would be genuinely celebrated by everyone who has watched it run with credit so many times. The raw ability to place in nearly a third of its races is there. The win just keeps waiting around the corner.