Izzy's Grey

The partnership with jockey Lee Edwards tells a similar story. The two have raced together ten times — two thirds of Izzy's Grey's entire career — and have yet to find the winner's enclosure together. That is a long run of near-misses and also-rans for a combination that clearly keeps getting put back together, which says something about the trust the yard places in Edwards even when results are hard to come by.

Most of Izzy's Grey's racing has come at Class 5 level, which is the lower end of the racing ladder — the kind of races designed to give horses exactly like this one a realistic shot at winning. Eight races at that level, zero wins. The fact that even in the most accessible tier of competition the horse has not broken through makes the record harder to explain away. The four placed finishes in recent outings — finishing fourth and sixth in its last two completed races — suggest the horse is ticking along without threatening to win, which is a pattern the team will be hoping to finally disrupt.

Izzy's Grey raced just one day ago, so whatever comes next is not far away. At this stage of a career, every race feels like another chance to rewrite a frustrating story — and horse racing has a long tradition of surprising everyone just when patience is running out.