Arctic Assassin

What makes that win worth paying attention to is who is behind it. Arctic Assassin is trained by Joseph Patrick O'Brien at Owning Hill in Co Kilkenny, one of the most powerful yards in Ireland right now. O'Brien's team has sent out 154 winners already this season — that is a remarkable volume that speaks to an operation firing on all cylinders. When a yard that busy bothers to place a young horse at The Curragh, they tend to know what they have on their hands.

The recent form figures of 1-9-7-11 tell an honest story — this is a horse that has found some races beyond it, finishing well down the field on a couple of occasions before putting it all together. That kind of dip-and-recover pattern is not unusual in a young horse still learning its trade, and the Curragh win suggests the penny may be dropping. With the team it has behind it and a first win already banked, Arctic Assassin is a horse worth keeping an eye on.