Neeps And Tatties

The recent form makes for mixed reading. A second-place finish sits among the last six runs, but so do a pair of sevenths and a tenth, suggesting inconsistency is as much a feature as anything else. Jockey Finn Lambert has partnered the horse seven times without a win between them, which is a long run of near-misses for a combination that clearly knows each other well — but knowing each other and clicking on race day are two different things.

Trainer Richard Phillips operates out of Adlestrop in Gloucestershire, a yard that has sent out three winners so far this season. That's a modest haul, but winners are winners, and it shows the team knows how to get a horse ready to perform. At the level where Neeps And Tatties typically competes — Class 5, the entry level of British racing — a win would be no great surprise in isolation, and yet across three races at that level, nothing has come. The horse raced just yesterday, which means it is fit and active, and the yard will be hoping a good run is just around the corner.

Neeps And Tatties is not a horse for the highlight reel just yet. But with a name that cheerful and a team still searching for the right day, it would be a genuinely lovely story if everything finally clicked into place.