Masekela

The seven-year-old has placed six times from those 33 races, meaning he has finished in the prize money roughly once every five or six runs without ever managing to convert. His recent form tells a similar story: in his last six outings he has finished second twice, suggesting the ability is there, just not the killer instinct — or perhaps the right opportunity — to turn a placed run into a win. He raced just yesterday, so this is a horse very much in the thick of an active campaign.

What makes this particularly striking is where Masekela has been asked to do it. Eight of his races have come at Class 1 level — the very top tier of British racing — and he has not won any of them. That is an extraordinarily tough environment for any horse, let alone one still searching for a first career victory. Most horses at that level are there because they have already proven themselves; Masekela is competing at the summit without yet having planted a flag anywhere on the mountain.

James Moffatt, who trains him from his yard in Cartmel, Cumbria, has had a productive season with 11 winners, so the operation clearly knows how to win races. His most regular jockey, David Allan, has partnered him seven times without success. That is not necessarily a criticism of either — the horse is clearly doing enough to keep being entered at the top level, which suggests the team believes there is a performance waiting to happen.

Whether it ever does is the question that hangs over Masekela's profile. A horse who has placed six times at the highest level without winning is either perpetually unlucky or permanently short of the very best — and after 33 races, it is becoming harder to argue the former. Still, two second-place finishes in his last six races say this is not a horse going backwards. The win might still come. It just has not yet.