Pulsar Star

The recent form makes for interesting reading. A runner-up finish, followed by a fourth, then another second, gives a picture of a horse that finds its level and runs consistently at it. The two dashes in the record indicate races where finishing position data isn't available, so the full picture is slightly incomplete — but what we can see suggests this is not a horse that trails in at the back of the field. Racing at Class 5, which is the entry-level tier of British racing, Pulsar Star has finished second twice from four races at that level without converting — and converting is the hard part.

Thomas Faulkner trains the horse from a yard in Devauden in Monmouthshire, and it is a stable in decent form right now, having sent out 16 winners already this season. That kind of momentum matters — a yard firing at that rate is not short of confidence, and horses in good yards tend to benefit from that environment. Pulsar Star raced just one day ago, so the team are keeping this horse busy and clearly believe there is a win in there somewhere.

The honest truth is that six races without a win, all at the lowest level of competition, raises a question about whether the winning moment will come. But two places from six races — winning 0 from 6 but placing in 2 of them — is not the record of a hopeless case. It is the record of a horse on the cusp. With a trainer in form and a horse that keeps finding its way into the frame, the next race could look very different.