Happy Henry

The recent form is actually encouraging if you squint at it the right way. Finishing third, then second in back-to-back races suggests Happy Henry is hitting a decent patch of form right now, and with a run as recently as yesterday, it's clearly a horse being kept busy while the team feels conditions are in its favour. The middle of that recent sequence — a seventh and an eighth — shows there are off days, but the two results before yesterday's third suggest those were the exception rather than the rule lately.

Nathan Crosse is the regular partner in the saddle, riding Happy Henry in five of its 18 races without yet getting that elusive win. That's a combination still looking for its breakthrough, but Crosse clearly knows the horse well by now, and familiarity in racing is worth something. McCreery's yard has been in good shape this season with 21 winners already sent out, which at least tells you this is a trainer who knows how to get a horse ready to win — Happy Henry just hasn't been the one to raise its hand yet.

The honest truth is that a horse with no wins from 18 races is asking its supporters for a lot of patience. But Happy Henry isn't a no-hoper — those five placed efforts show a horse that competes, and the current form figures of 3-2 heading into its next run are about as good a platform as you'll get. At some point, one of those seconds turns into a first. Whether Happy Henry is the type to eventually deliver that day, or whether it's permanently destined to make the frame without topping it, is the question that makes following a horse like this genuinely gripping for the people who care about it.