Future Times

The recent form makes for uncomfortable reading. Looking at the last six races, the best it has managed is a fourth place, twice, and it has twice finished as far back as eighth. That is not the profile of a horse threatening to break its duck any time soon. It raced just yesterday, so the yard are clearly keeping it busy, but busyness alone does not win races.

Jockey Graham Lee has been the man in the saddle most often, riding Future Times in five of its races together without a single win to show for the partnership. That is not necessarily a reflection on Lee, who is an experienced rider — it simply tells you that the horse has not given anyone much to work with. The pair have tried, and the scoreboard remains blank.

Perhaps most telling is where Future Times competes. Class 6 is the lowest tier of British racing — these are races designed specifically for horses who have struggled at higher levels, essentially the bottom rung of the ladder. Future Times has run nine times at this level and still cannot win. When a horse is at the easiest end of the sport and still finding rivals too strong, it raises honest questions about whether a first career victory will ever arrive. At six years old, with 23 races behind it and no wins, the window is not getting any wider.