Star Turn

The recent form makes for mixed reading. Those consecutive second-place finishes at the start of the sequence are genuinely encouraging — two runners-up spots in a row shows the horse was in good nick and competitive — but the run of 11th, 7th, and 11th placings either side of a blank suggests inconsistency has been the real enemy. When Star Turn is on song, it can threaten. When it isn't, it can disappear into the pack.

Trainer Mickey Bowen operates out of Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, and his yard has been in fine form this season with 51 winners sent out — a healthy total that suggests Bowen knows how to get a horse ready to win. The fact that Star Turn hasn't managed to convert despite being in capable hands makes the puzzle more interesting, not less. It's the kind of horse where you suspect the winning day is coming; it just hasn't arrived yet.

At Class 5 — the lower end of the racing ladder, where fields tend to be more open — Star Turn has raced five times without winning. That's the level where you'd back yourself to find an opportunity, so going 0 from 5 there sharpens the question of what it will take. Raced just yesterday and still active, the team clearly haven't given up on finding that breakthrough. Whether it comes soon is the question, but with Bowen's yard firing on all cylinders this season, the conditions are at least in place for it to happen.