Nae Bother At A'

The recent form makes for tough reading. Looking at the last six runs, the best finish recorded is a fifth, with a string of sixth and eighth-place finishes filling out the rest. There is no upward curve to point to, no sign of a horse gradually finding its feet. It raced just yesterday, so it is clearly still active and still being given chances, which at least tells you the team around it has not given up.

Most of its racing has come at Class 4 level — solid, competitive races without being the very top tier — and it has drawn a blank in all seven attempts at that grade. To put that in context, a horse that wins even one in every six or seven races at that level is considered respectable. Nae Bother At A' has not managed one from seven.

What keeps this interesting, oddly enough, is the trainer. N W Alexander, based up in Leslie, Fife, has sent out 19 winners already this season, which tells you this is a yard that knows how to get a horse to the winner's enclosure. The fact that this particular horse has not contributed to that tally despite 11 attempts is a puzzle rather than a reflection on the operation around it. Some horses simply take time, and some never quite get there — but with an active, functioning yard behind it and a race as recently as yesterday, Nae Bother At A' is clearly still in the conversation, even if the scoreboard has nothing to show for it yet.