El Fox

What is notable is the level at which El Fox is competing. Class 5 sits near the bottom of British racing's ranking system, and even there, the horse has drawn a blank in all seven attempts at that grade. Racing at that level is, in theory, where a horse like this should be finding its best chance of a win. The fact that it has not converted any of those opportunities into a victory is the central puzzle of El Fox's career to date.

The yard behind this horse is no small operation. Marco Botti, training out of Newmarket — the heartland of British flat racing — has sent out 45 winners already this season, which is a genuinely strong return. Botti is not a trainer who struggles to get horses ready to win. That makes El Fox something of an outlier in the stable, a horse that keeps racing without delivering the breakthrough its trainer's overall record suggests is achievable. El Fox raced just one day ago, so whatever comes next is very much in the making. The question now is whether this horse has a win buried somewhere in that stubborn streak, or whether the fourths and fifths are simply where it belongs.