Senor Diaz

The recent picture is not an encouraging one. His last six races have produced a fourth, an eighth, and then a string of non-completions — the dashes in his form record indicating races where he didn't finish. That kind of sequence raises questions about consistency and soundness, and with a finish just yesterday, he is clearly still being asked the question regularly.

Jockey Micheal Nolan has been the man in the saddle for six of those races together, and the pair have yet to click into a winning combination. Senor Diaz also spends most of his time competing at Class 5, which is the entry-level tier of British racing — the races where horses who haven't been winning are given the most realistic chance of doing so. The fact that he hasn't been able to convert even there tells its own story. For context, if a horse were winning just one in every ten races at that level, you'd consider it modest but functional. Senor Diaz hasn't won any of his six attempts there.

None of this means he is without value to his yard — horses race for many reasons, and placings still earn prize money — but as a profile of a winner-in-waiting, the evidence is thin. At seven years old, time is not necessarily on his side either. What keeps things interesting is that he ran just yesterday, so whoever is responsible for him clearly hasn't given up. Sometimes that persistence is rewarded. For Senor Diaz, that first win would mean everything.