Russet Gold

What keeps things interesting is the company he has been keeping. Eight of his 26 races have come at the top level — Class 1, the sharpest end of British racing — and while he has not won any of them, simply being placed in that company seven times across his career tells you there is genuine ability underneath the frustrating results. His jockey David Egan put it well after that last win at Redcar, calling him a classy horse and pointing to his pedigree: he is a half-brother to Daahyeh, who won the prestigious Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot. That kind of breeding does not guarantee anything, but it explains why the yard have persisted with him at the highest level.

Kevin Ryan trains him out of his yard at Hambleton in North Yorkshire — a yard that has sent out 45 winners already this season, so it is not short of form horses. Ryan spoke warmly about Russet Gold on a stable tour in April, saying he expects the horse to keep improving with age and that a Listed race — one step below the very top tier — is genuinely on the agenda. He was pencilling in a return in the second half of May. Whether that optimism is well-founded or simply the loyalty every trainer shows their horses is the question worth asking. At 6 years old, with a long winless run behind him, Russet Gold needs to prove the talent everyone around him believes in is still there to be unlocked.