Token Love

The partnership with jockey Aiden Brookes has been given a fair chance to click — five races together without a win — but at least the horse is now running into places rather than disappearing out the back. Brookes will know this horse well by now, and familiarity can count for something when the right opportunity comes along.

Token Love races at Class 5 level, which is the entry-level tier of British racing — essentially the races designed for horses who have not yet proved themselves at higher grades. Going winless from four attempts at that level is not a great return, but it does mean the horse has not been thrown in above its station. The yard that trains it, Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero's operation based in Oldcastle, Cheshire, is clearly a functioning, productive team — 43 winners sent out this season tells you these are people who know how to get a horse ready to win. The fact that Token Love has not obliged yet is more about the horse finding its moment than the team not knowing their job.

The honest summary is this: Token Love is a horse on the fringes of winning, competing at the right level, trained by a yard with a strong record, and showing enough improvement in recent races to suggest it is not hopeless. A second place is proof it can get competitive. The question is whether it can hold that form for long enough to cross the line first. At four years old, with improving form and an active campaign underway, there is still time — but it needs to convert soon, because places without wins only tell half a story.