English Time

What gives the situation a more optimistic feel is the yard behind the horse. Harry Charlton trains out of Beckhampton in Wiltshire, and with 38 winners on the board already this season, this is clearly a team that knows how to get horses ready to win. Beckhampton is one of the more storied training bases in Britain, and a trainer firing out winners at that kind of rate is not short of ability or confidence. When a stable is in that sort of form, even a horse still searching for its breakthrough deserves a second look.

At just three years old and with only two races to its name, English Time is still very much a work in progress. Most horses at this stage are still learning the job, and a fourth-place finish last time out suggests it is starting to piece things together. Whether it can convert that into a first win soon will be worth watching.