Ethereal Charm

That said, Ethereal Charm raced just yesterday, so whatever the yard — sorry, whatever Daisy Hitchins and her yard make of that latest effort, there is clearly appetite to keep the horse busy. Hitchins trains out of Sherborne in Dorset and has had a productive season, sending out 14 winners — a healthy return that suggests the yard knows what it is doing, even if this particular horse has not yet repaid the faith.

At three years old, Ethereal Charm is at the age where most horses either start to show what they are made of or begin to suggest their ceiling is modest. Fourteen winners from a yard is genuinely encouraging context — it means the problem is unlikely to be how the horse is being prepared. Sometimes a horse simply takes time to click, and sometimes it never quite does. Ethereal Charm has five races to find an answer from, and none of them have offered one yet.