Ravenscraig Castle

That ability, according to trainer Iain Jardine, is not in question. Jardine, whose yard near Carrutherstown has sent out 57 winners this season — a genuinely productive campaign — describes Ravenscraig Castle as having "loads of ability" but being a "tricky customer." The horse reached a solid level on the Flat before switching to hurdles, and that background gives you some sense of the raw material on offer. The puzzle is getting it out on race day.

The numbers do tell a more encouraging story over longer distances. In races run over two miles or more, Ravenscraig Castle has won 1 from 14 — which sounds modest until you compare it to the dead zero across its 18 races at Class 4 level, the most common grade it faces. Those long-distance runs are where the horse has at least shown a pulse. His regular jockey, Andrew Mullen, has partnered him 16 times without a win between them, a combination that has plenty of experience but no breakthrough to show for it yet.

Jardine has a theory, though. He thinks the horse might be at its best when it runs fresh, with time between races rather than being kept busy. There is also a thought about switching to chasing — jumping fences rather than hurdles — and a specific course in mind: Musselburgh, where the fences tend to be on the smaller side and might suit a horse that is still finding its feet over jumps. It is the kind of careful, considered thinking that gives you hope Ravenscraig Castle has not said its last word yet. The recent form — finishing fourth two runs ago and third the run before that — suggests it is at least showing up. Whether it can turn those places into a second win is the question worth following.