Fitzmaurice

The recent form makes for difficult reading. In the last six races, the best result has been a fifth place, with finishes of eighth, seventh, fifth, eleventh, and tenth making up the rest. That is consistently mid-pack at best, trailing off toward the back at worst. Fitzmaurice has been racing most recently at Class 5, which is the entry level of British racing — and has still not managed a win in four attempts there. When a horse cannot find a race to win at the lowest level, it raises genuine questions about whether the right opportunity has been found yet.

Raced just yesterday, so Fitzmaurice is very much an active project, and the team at Tony Carroll's yard in Cropthorne, Worcestershire will be looking for answers. Carroll himself is in fine form as a trainer — 136 winners sent out this season is a serious total that puts him among the busier and more productive yards in the country, winning roughly 1 in every 5 or 6 races across his string. Horses trained there do find their mark eventually. The question with Fitzmaurice is simply whether that day is coming.