Bella Colombia

Look at her last six races: two wins, two thirds, a second, and a fifth. That is a horse in the form of her life. She won at Killarney just this week — her most recent run was only yesterday — so she goes into whatever comes next on the back of a genuine hot streak. At five years old, she appears to have found her rhythm rather late, which makes the timing all the more satisfying.

Two of her three career wins have come at Dundalk, where she has raced nine times in total. Winning 2 from 9 at a specific track — roughly 1 in every 4.5 races there — is the kind of number that makes a course specialist. Dundalk suits something about how she travels and finishes, and that is a useful weapon for a trainer to know about. W McCreery's yard at Rathbride in County Kildare has sent out 19 winners already this season, so this is a team that clearly knows what it is doing, and Bella Colombia looks like one of the horses they have figured out.

She does her best racing on normal ground, winning 2 of 9 races in those conditions — about 1 in every 4.5 — and she is best kept to the shorter distances, between five and six and a half furlongs, where she has won 1 from 5. Regular jockey Nathan Crosse has ridden her ten times and won once together, but that single win sits within a partnership that has clearly contributed to her recent purple patch.

The honest summary is this: Bella Colombia is not a flashy horse, but she is a consistent one who has hit form at exactly the right moment. She races often, she places often, and right now she is winning. For a general punter watching her run, the story is simple — she is a horse that knows where she likes to race, knows what ground she likes, and is currently doing exactly what she does best.