Placebo has the belief at Catterick during Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival

There’s a theme developing here. It rains all morning, I turn up to the races in waterproofs, the sun comes out. We’ll take that, though, and, while the ground was very much riding soft for the Catterick leg of the Sky Bet Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival, the North Yorkshire track ended up being bathed in sunshine for a good portion of the afternoon.

Which was nice, as were the quarter of fruit salad gums from the sweet shop at the bottom of the press room steps. That, sadly, was as good as things got for me, with the nap coming last in the feature and a subsequent get-out-of-jail bet going west in the penultimate contest. There’s always tomorrow, however. There’s always Doncaster.

As for Catterick, very little got into things from off the pace on Wednesday, including in the aforementioned feature Sky Bet Go-Racing-In-Yorkshire Summer Festival Handicap over five furlongs.

Glenrowan Rose, carrying 10st 4lb thanks to a 6lb penalty attributed following a catch-me-if-you-can success at Hamilton five days ago, repeated those tactics for an easy two-and-a-quarter length victory.

They say in-form fillies over sprinting trips shouldn’t be opposed and it would be a bold move to take her on in whichever contest trainer Keith Dalgleish finds for her next, judging by this sort of form, even allowing for the small field following three withdrawals.

Certainly, jockey Connor Beasley, who has done the steering for her last two victories, was delighted with the performance of the Bushranger filly.

“At Hamilton the last day we were positive with her and we used the same tactics again today,” he said. 

“She’s thriving, doing everything right and there’s no reason she can’t go in again. She had a lot of weight on her back today over a fast five here and she’s done it well.”

Paul Midgley’s Olivia Fallow could only finish fourth in a first-time visor, but the Westow handler might have bigger fish to fry in the Sky Bet Dash at York on Saturday.

Might is the key word, as both Tylery Wonder and Manshood both need several horses to come out to get a run, with the pair currently 31 and 33 respectively in a list where the maximum field size is 20.

Midgley, though, is happy with the pair of them.

“Manshood will be liking the rain,” he said. “Both need a few to come out before they get in but they’re both in great form, hopefully they’ll both get a run.

“Manshood’s progressive. He will be a nice horse next year when he matures. Whether he’s good enough to go and win now on Saturday I’m not sure, but he’s more than good enough to be going and running in it anyway.

“Tylery Wonder’s preferred ground would be good or slow side of good. He is what he is.

“He won the jump jockeys ‘Nunthorpe’ there well and, to be fair, he ran well there the last day as the ground was probably a little bit lively for him in a better race to be honest.

“He stays six furlongs well so I just hope he gets in.”

If the Sky Bet Go-Racing-In-Yorkshire Summer Festival Handicap was the day’s big race, surely it was followed by the opening Sporting Life Pick 7 Starts Now Selling Stakes won by Placebo Effect.

Ollie Pears’ horse only won at Ripon on Saturday, so he’s currently the leading horse at the 2017 Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival. I confidently predict he will still be winning that particular battle when they cross the line for the last at Pontefract on Sunday.

Perhaps next year his achievement will honoured by the Placebo Effect Handicap, something his owners were in favour of as they celebrated his success afterwards.

Bought at the Goffs sale at Doncaster last August for £3000, Placebo Effect is an example of what can be achieved in the game from a relatively small sum of cash, when good judgement and a bit of luck is on your side.

Part owned by Pears, Placebo Effect is also shared between Tim O’Gram, a farmer, and Keith West, a former deputy headteacher, and both were pleasantly surprised, not by the win, but by the starting price. 

O’Gram said: “Ollie fancied this horse today but the punters didn’t, he drifted to 3/1 just before the off. Maybe it was because he ran Saturday or was giving the weight away, but Ollie said he was in such good form.

“He’s very calm and he tries hard, which is very important in two-year-olds.”

So just how do you buy a horse that wins twice in five days for £3,000?

“Ollie rang me up and said ‘I hear you’re looking for a horse’ and I said ‘I might be’ and he said ‘I’ve got just the horse for you’,” O’Gram said.

“I went to see him and he said ‘I can’t guarantee it will run fast, but all his legs are in the right place’ so that was that and we had a go.

“That was in April, so it’s been a quick return.”

“It was even quicker for me,” said West. “I used to own Noodles Blue Boy, I own a bit of Lean On Pete as well, and when we retired him I was looking for an interest in a new one. So I’ve got a quarter of him.

“Noodles Blue Boy was a smashing horse. He did win and he won very occasionally at good odds like 40/1 at Musselburgh one day when Tom Eaves rode him. I wasn’t there but I screamed the bookies down.”

Pears, who is in splendid form following five winners in the last eight days, owned Noodles Blue Boy along with West, who he believes is a lucky charm.

“This man, I said to Tim, all he will bring you is luck!”

That’s certainly been the case for the Placebo Effect owners at the Go Racing In Yorkshire Festival so far. Maybe I should take Keith along to Doncaster tomorrow.