Play By The Rules

The recent form makes for difficult reading. The last six runs have produced nothing better than a fourth place, and that one finish in the frame still left the horse well beaten. Raced just yesterday, Play By The Rules is clearly an active campaigner, but the results haven't shifted. At Class 5 — the lower end of the racing ladder, where horses are competing for modest prize money and the competition is less fierce — you might expect a horse with this experience to be troubling the judge more often. One win from nine races at that level tells you this is a horse that competes honestly without ever quite delivering.

Regular jockey David Noonan has had the ride eight times, winning once together — a 12% win rate, or roughly 1 in every 8 races they've partnered. That's not a bad return by Noonan's standards in the saddle, but it does underline that their one shared success is still that same Taunton win from over three years ago. Nicol's yard has been in decent form this season, sending out 26 winners, which suggests the operation is functioning well — Play By The Rules just hasn't been the horse to add to that tally. At seven, with the clock ticking and that winning feeling becoming a more distant memory, the next visit to the track will need to show something new.