Valsharah

The most recent run, just yesterday, adds to a recent sequence that reads 11-6-4-2-6-11. That second place somewhere in the middle suggests the ability is genuinely there on the right day — finishing second means you've beaten almost every other horse in the race. The problem is that Valsharah hasn't found a way to beat the one that matters most.

Jockey Jason Watson has had more opportunity than anyone to solve the puzzle, riding Valsharah in 10 of its 23 races without a single win to show for it. That's not necessarily a reflection on Watson — the horse simply hasn't won with anyone. The pair have built up a real partnership in terms of time spent together, just not in terms of results. At Class 5 level — the entry-level tier of British racing, where you'd expect a horse with any ability at all to eventually find a race it can win — Valsharah has gone 0 from 9. Nine attempts at the easiest opportunities available, and still nothing.

Trainer Michael Appleby's yard at Oakham in Rutland is clearly a productive operation — 79 winners sent out this season alone is a serious number, roughly one every four or five days. That makes Valsharah something of an outlier in the stable. The talent around it is winning races; this one keeps finishing just behind them. At some point a zero next to the wins column stops being bad luck and starts being a pattern, and 23 races in, Valsharah has firmly crossed that line. Whether there's a first win still to come remains the question — the placing record says don't give up entirely, but the overall numbers make it very hard to argue with confidence that the answer is yes.