Cameo

Her first win came at The Curragh last October, over seven furlongs, and it was enough to mark her out as a horse with a future. She then ran in a top-level race back at The Curragh on wet, muddy ground and finished fourth — not a disgrace, but not what the team had in mind either. When trainer Aidan O'Brien reflected on that period, it was clear she had more to offer in better conditions. She was pointed towards an Oaks trial — one of the preparatory races for the most important flat race for three-year-old horses in Britain — which tells you how highly regarded she is at Cashel.

The most recent chapter is the most interesting. At Lingfield Park seven weeks ago, Ryan Moore rode her for the first time and came away genuinely enthused — not in the polite, guarded way jockeys sometimes speak after a win, but with the kind of specific, forward-looking praise that sticks. He noted she was "scopey" (built with room to develop), that she picked up and kept running all the way to the line, and that he believed she would keep improving. O'Brien, for his part, suggested the Oaks itself — the race at Epsom every June that defines a generation of horses — was in the thinking. That is a significant statement. Between those two wins, Cameo ran at Epsom and her jockey felt the pace of the race didn't suit her. On a track designed for a different kind of day, she still ran respectably.

O'Brien's yard has sent out 138 winners this season alone, so the fact that Cameo is being discussed alongside the sport's biggest occasions tells its own story. She raced just yesterday and remains active. Whatever comes next, she is clearly a horse with the people around her believing the best is still ahead.