John Dixen

That said, there is something worth watching here. John Dixen raced just yesterday, meaning this is a horse actively in training and being campaigned with purpose. Trainer P J Rothwell, based at Tinahely in County Wicklow, has sent out 35 winners already this season — which tells you this is a yard that knows how to get horses winning. When a stable of that productivity keeps running a horse, it usually means they believe there is something there worth finding.

The form figures — 11, 13, 11 in the races where finishes are recorded — suggest John Dixen has been finishing mid-pack rather than threatening the leaders. It has not disgraced itself, but it has not threatened either. For a four-year-old still relatively early in its career, the hope from Rothwell's team will be that experience and the right opportunity eventually unlock a better result.