Yes Waliim

That handling comes courtesy of Richard Hughes at Upper Lambourn, a yard that has sent out 60 winners already this season — so this is a trainer who knows how to get horses winning. The fact that Yes Waliim hasn't broken through yet, despite racing for a yard in that kind of form, is the interesting tension here. Hughes clearly believes there's something to work with, otherwise a horse without a win from six tries tends to get quietly moved on.

The level Yes Waliim competes at — Class 5, which is the entry-level tier of British racing — means it hasn't been thrown in at the deep end. Three of its six races have come at that grade, and it's drawn a blank in all three. That's not a disaster at this stage for a three-year-old, but it does mean the win column needs filling soon if it's going to justify its place in a busy, productive string. The recent sequence of 6-10 placing-5-3-5 shows flashes of better finishing positions mixed in with the forgettable ones, which at least suggests it isn't simply making up the numbers every time out.

At three years old, there's still time on the clock. Horses often take a handful of runs to figure out what they're doing, and a yard sending out 60 winners a season tends to be patient for a reason. Whether Yes Waliim can deliver on whatever promise has kept it in training this long is the question — and with yesterday's race already behind it, the next chapter won't be far away.