Due To Shine

The recent form figures are worth a closer look. That sequence of 11-7-3-2-12-4, read from most recent backwards, shows a horse that blows hot and cold. The two and the three suggest a horse capable of mixing it near the front of a field, while the elevens and twelves hint at days when things just don't click. It's the kind of form that keeps the yard — the trainer, at least — interested, because the ability is clearly there on its best days.

Brian Ellison's yard at Norton in North Yorkshire is no small operation. Forty-three winners already this season is the output of a trainer who knows how to get horses ready to run and win, which means Due To Shine isn't short of professional support. When a yard is firing at that volume, they tend to have a good sense of which horses are capable of winning and which ones are essentially making up the numbers. The fact that this one keeps being sent out suggests Ellison believes there's a first victory somewhere in the horse's future.

Racing just one day ago, Due To Shine is as active as it gets. Whether that recent run unlocked anything, or whether it just added another blank to the record, remains to be seen — but at three years old, there's still time. Plenty of horses take a while to figure it all out. The question is whether that two or three in the form figures represents the ceiling, or just a glimpse of what Due To Shine can do on the right day.