Venturevango

At seven years old, Venturevango is no youngster still finding its feet. That makes the absence of a single win or placed finish across eight career races a real puzzle for trainer Adam Nicol and his team in Seahouses, Northumberland. To put that in perspective — a horse that has never finished in the top three from eight attempts is an unusual case, not a horse still on the way up.

There is one small crumb of comfort worth noting. Nicol's yard has sent out 26 winners this season, which tells you the stable clearly knows how to get horses winning. That makes Venturevango something of an outlier within an otherwise productive operation. The horse raced just one day ago, so the yard — the team — are clearly still searching for the right opportunity. Whether they find it remains to be seen.