Noble Grace

Jockey James Bowen has stuck with Noble Grace through six of those nine races, and the pair have yet to trouble the scorer together. That kind of loyalty from a rider is not unusual when a yard believes a horse has more to offer, but it does mean the partnership is still searching for a breakthrough. Recent form shows a fourth and a ninth in its last two completed runs, with a gap of missing results before that — not a sequence that sets the pulse racing, but the fourth at least suggests there are days when Noble Grace is putting in a shift.

The yard behind the horse is worth noting. Warren Greatrex operates out of Upper Lambourn in Berkshire and has sent out 50 winners already this season — that is a genuinely productive operation, the kind of yard that knows what it is doing. When a trainer of that standing keeps running a horse, it usually means they see something in it that the form book has not yet captured. Noble Grace typically lines up in Class 4 races, which sit in the middle of the racing ladder — not the very bottom, but not the big occasions either. Zero wins from three races at that level so far.

The horse raced just yesterday, so it is very much an active part of the Greatrex string right now. At five years old, there is still time for the penny to drop. Whether it does remains to be seen.