Macho Sun

The partnership with jockey Dylan Hogan has been given every chance to click, with 13 races together producing no victories. That is a long run without a breakthrough, and the most recent six runs have brought nothing better than a fifth place, with blanks on either side of it. Racing just yesterday, Macho Sun remains active and in training, which at least tells you the yard hasn't given up.

That yard is Mike Sowersby's operation in Little Barugh, North Yorkshire, a small village setup that has punched out 8 winners this season — so they clearly know how to win races, and Macho Sun isn't dragging the whole team down. Most of Macho Sun's races have come at Class 5, which is the entry level of British racing, the kind of company a horse *should* be competitive in. Thirteen races at that level without a single win is a hard number to argue with, but three place finishes do at least mean it hasn't been tailed off and ignored — it keeps showing up near the action, just not quite at the front of it.

Whether there is a first win somewhere ahead for Macho Sun is genuinely hard to say. What is clear is that the team has kept faith across 29 races and six years, which in itself says something. Sometimes a horse just needs the stars to align — the right ground, the right day, the right pace in the race. It hasn't happened yet. But they're still trying.