Perth

Three races, no wins, no placed finishes — Betteryouthanme is one of the least exposed horses in this field but for the wrong reasons so far. Beaten over 20 lengths in each of its last three runs, the jockey-trainer combination has also failed to win together in six attempts, so there is not much in the data to hang hope on here.

The most experienced runner in the field by a distance — 61 races compared to a field average of 18 — and the only horse in this race with a proven winning record at Perth, where four of its six career wins have come. The big concern is that it races again after just four days, and its record on normal ground shows zero wins from 13 attempts on similar conditions.

Top-rated in this field by 3lbs, Livano Bello has been maddeningly consistent without ever winning — six top-three finishes from eleven races and still no victory to show for it. Two solid placed efforts in the past two months suggest the form is genuine, but those odds drifting sharply from near-evens to 6/1 tells you punters have serious doubts about whether today is the day it finally breaks the streak.

The editorial flags this five-year-old as a horse with potentially more to offer, and there is one genuinely interesting angle: it has never raced on normal ground before, having run only on faster or more extreme surfaces. That unknown factor cuts both ways, but with wind surgery in its history, four races into its career, and a trainer-jockey combination that wins roughly 1 in 5 races together, there is at least a credible case for improvement.