Falaise Blanc

The numbers are honest rather than flattering. A win rate of roughly 1 in every 20 races is slim, and his last six runs — finishing eighth, sixth, eleventh, tenth, seventh, and second — suggest a horse that often promises without delivering. He raced just yesterday, which means the team are keeping him busy and clearly haven't given up on finding the right opportunity. Most of his career has been spent in Class 6, the lowest tier of British racing, where he's managed 1 win from 13 races at that level.

There is, though, a more interesting horse underneath the modest record. At distances between a mile and three furlongs and a mile and four furlongs — the longer end of what's called middle distance — he's won 1 from 6, a win rate of around 17%. That's meaningfully better than his overall record, and it suggests he may simply be a horse who needs a longer run to show his best. Katie Scott, who has sent out 17 winners from her yard this season, thinks so too. She's spoken about wanting to step him up to a mile and four furlongs, believing there's more to come when he gets that extra distance. The challenge, she acknowledges, is finding the right races — opportunities over that trip aren't always easy to come by, and she doesn't want to be making long journeys every week to find them.

His regular jockey Greg Fairley has ridden him seven times without a win together, which is one of those partnerships that exists more out of routine than results. The next few months will be telling — if Scott can find the right races over a longer trip, there may be a few more days like that August afternoon at Newcastle still to come.