Summer Rain

Her recent form figures of 13-7-10-4-7-3 tell a mixed tale. That third place is the one to latch onto — a horse that can run into the frame at any level has something to offer — but the double-digit finishes either side of it show that consistency is the real problem here. She ran just yesterday, so she is clearly in a busy spell of racing, and her trainer Craig Lidster has been keeping her active, which suggests the Norton yard still believes there is a race to be won somewhere.

Lidster himself has had a productive season, sending out 20 winners from his North Yorkshire base, which shows the operation knows how to get a horse ready to win. The question is whether Summer Rain is simply outclassed, or whether the right opportunity hasn't quite come along yet. She has raced five times at Class 6 — the lowest rung of British racing — without winning once, which does raise genuine doubts. At that level, you would expect a horse with any real ability to have at least troubled the judge by now.

For casual observers, the honest assessment is this: Summer Rain is a horse that keeps turning up but hasn't yet found a way to win. One place from 11 races is a thin return, and racing at the easiest level without converting makes the task of finding optimism genuinely difficult. Still, she raced yesterday and will likely race again soon, which means Lidster hasn't given up — and in racing, all it takes is one day when everything clicks.