Chamonix

The one thing clearly working in his favour is who he has in his corner. Joseph Patrick O'Brien, training out of Owning Hill in County Kilkenny, has had 160 winners already this season — that's not a yard that sends out horses without a plan. O'Brien is one of the sharpest young trainers in European racing, a former champion jockey who now competes at the very highest level, and the fact that Chamonix remains in training and raced as recently as yesterday suggests the team still believes there's something worth developing here.

Horses don't always bloom on their first or second start. Some take half a dozen races just to understand what's being asked of them, and at three years old, there's time. Whether Chamonix turns these early runs into something more promising is the question — but with a trainer producing winners at that kind of rate, he won't be short of guidance trying to find the answer.