Grand Pier

That said, there are faint flickers of encouragement buried in the numbers. Those two fourth-place finishes suggest Grand Pier is occasionally knocking on the door, even if it has not managed to push it open. Competing mostly at Class 5 — the entry-level tier of British racing — it has gone 0 from 3 at that grade, which means even at the most accessible end of the sport, the breakthrough has not come yet.

Grand Pier is trained by Warren Greatrex at Upper Lambourn in Berkshire, a yard that has been in fine form this season with 50 winners sent out. That context matters: Greatrex clearly knows how to get horses winning, which suggests patience rather than pessimism may be the right attitude here. The horse raced just yesterday and remains in active training, so there is clearly still a plan being worked through. At three years old, Grand Pier is young enough that the story is far from written — but for now, the yard are still waiting for the page to turn.