Tryst

Her only win came at Wolverhampton last October, and she has run twice since, finishing second and then seventh most recently. That latest effort looked flat, but George Boughey — who trains her out of Newmarket and has sent out 99 winners already this season, which is the kind of number that tells you this is a very active, very capable yard — was quick to put the run in context. Tryst had been drawn wide in a scrappy six-runner race and, crucially, was carrying extra weight to give other horses a fighting chance. In other words, she was already working harder than her rivals before the stalls opened. Boughey's view is that the weight she was shouldering actually suggests the handicapper thinks she has more ability than her record shows — the phrase he used was that she "could prove to be well treated," which in racing terms means there may be a race she wins more easily than anyone expects.

Six months is a long time between wins, and the seventh-place finish will not have thrilled anyone. But she finished second twice in her last six races as well, which is the profile of a horse who keeps competing honestly without quite getting her nose in front. She raced just yesterday, so she is clearly fit and busy. The next few weeks will tell a lot about whether Boughey can find her the right opportunity — a clean draw, a fair weight, and a race that suits — to show what she looked like on that winning day at Wolverhampton last autumn.