Baiana

The win came at Sligo on the 3rd of May, and it remains the standout moment of the career to date. Sligo is a tight, quirky little track in the west of Ireland — not a place where every horse takes to the bends — so winning there suggests Baiana has a bit of adaptability about it. The recent form reading of a seventh, then second, then the win, and a blank since, tells a story of a horse finding its feet before putting it all together at exactly the right moment.

The yard behind Baiana is worth paying attention to. Joseph Patrick O'Brien trains out of Owning Hill in Co Kilkenny and has sent out 160 winners already this season — a number that reflects one of the most productive operations in Irish racing right now. When a trainer is firing in winners at that rate, the horses underneath them tend to be placed with care and given every chance. Baiana is not just filling a yard; it is part of a serious team.

With four races on the clock and a 25% win rate — one win from every four runs — Baiana has already outperformed plenty of horses who never make the winner's enclosure at all. The next few months should tell us whether that Sligo victory was the beginning of something, or simply its finest hour.