Triggerman

What makes Triggerman a genuine long-shot is his complete inability to win in Class 5 company — the lowest official racing standard, where the bar is supposed to be lowest of all. He has run 17 times at that level without a single victory, a run of failure that suggests he may struggle to get his head in front again. His recent form is decidedly ordinary: across his last six races, he has finished eighth, thirteenth, eighth, sixth, ninth, and third. That third-place finish, just over a day ago, offers the faintest glimmer of consistency, but it does not disguise the broader picture of a horse that wins roughly once every 23 races.

Jockey Ryan Sexton, his most frequent partner, has piloted Triggerman to one winner from 11 rides together, a nine per cent success rate. Trainer Patrick Morris, based at Prescott in Merseyside, has sent out 18 winners from his yard this season, so the infrastructure around Triggerman is functional if unspectacular. Unless the horse finds another race at his ideal distance and somehow rediscovers the form that brought him that single win nearly two years ago, he remains a horse treading water in the lower divisions — occasionally competitive, rarely threatening, and seemingly destined to remain a one-time winner.