Deep Sleep

What gives the picture a more hopeful edge is who is saddling the horse. Tim Easterby's yard at Great Habton in North Yorkshire is one of the most productive operations in the country right now, having sent out 126 winners this season alone. That is a remarkable volume of success, and it means Deep Sleep is learning its trade in a yard that clearly knows how to get horses right. Yards that fire out winners at that rate do not tend to give up on young horses quickly — they tend to be patient, place them carefully, and wait for the penny to drop.

At three years old, Deep Sleep is still a young horse finding its feet, and the fact that Easterby's team keeps running it — it raced just yesterday — suggests there is something worth persevering with. The record may read zero from five right now, but in racing, a horse can turn a corner very quickly. For Deep Sleep, that corner may not be far away.