Carmel's Phoenix

The form pattern suggests a horse that knows how to find the winner's circle but hasn't yet strung together the kind of momentum that turns occasional winners into proper prospects. Of those last six runs, two finished out of the placings entirely — the fifth and the blank — which hints that there are days when Carmel's Phoenix doesn't quite show up. But the two placing finishes and the two wins in that same stretch mean it's capable of competing at its level when it clicks. Trained by Mark Fahey at Cloneygath in County Kildare, the horse is part of a yard that has already sent out 24 winners this season, a sign that the training is solid and the horse is getting its chance in competitive fields. At 4 years old, it still has time to develop, and those early wins suggest there is a engine underneath — it is simply a question of finding consistency.