Inlet

The recent form makes for difficult reading. In its last six races, Inlet has finished eighth, seventh, fifth, twelfth, fifth, and fifth. Those two fifth-place finishes hint at a horse that can put in a decent showing, but eighth, seventh, and a twelve suggest something inconsistent rather than unlucky. There is a difference between a horse that keeps finishing second and third and one that mixes the occasional respectable effort with some genuinely poor ones, and Inlet falls into the latter camp.

Most of those runs have come in Class 6, which is the lowest level of British racing — essentially the entry-level tier where horses compete if they have not shown enough quality to step up. Inlet has run ten times at this level without winning once. That is a sobering statistic. Winning at Class 6 is not easy, but it is the level where horses eventually find their moment, and Inlet has not found one yet from ten attempts.

Connor Planas has been on board for nine of Inlet's nineteen races, making him very much the regular partner, but their record together reads zero wins from nine — a combination that has yet to click in the way both would hope. Trainer Mike Sowersby, based up in North Yorkshire, has sent out six winners this season, so the yard is clearly capable of getting horses to win. Inlet just has not been one of them.

None of this means Inlet is without value or without a future. Horses can surprise you, and the fact the team keeps running it — nineteen races and counting — suggests they see something worth persevering with. But right now, Inlet is a horse that needs to turn promise into a result, and the clock is ticking.