Cher Monsieur

Mulholland, based at Limpley Stoke in Wiltshire, is having a productive season — 60 winners and counting — and Cher Monsieur has contributed two of them. The horse's overall record reads two wins from 12 races, roughly 1 in every 6, which is modest on paper. But the recent sequence tells a different story: in the last six races he has won twice and finished second three times. That is a horse who has figured something out. Jockey Conor O'Farrell, who has partnered him in 11 of those 12 races and knows him as well as anyone, described him after Newcastle as "very tough and genuine" — which in racing terms means he keeps trying even when things go wrong. And things did go wrong at Newcastle: O'Farrell misjudged the final fence and handed the rival half a length, only for a loose horse running alongside to inadvertently give Cher Monsieur something to race against. Sometimes you need a bit of luck. What matters is being good enough to take it.

The key to understanding him is the ground. Mulholland is explicit about it: this is a horse who needs fast, dry conditions to show his best, mentally and physically. A run at Ffos Las on unsuitable ground three starts ago ended in an eight-length defeat, which looks bad until you understand why it happened. Newcastle in January offered the surface he wanted, and Plumpton in late May did too — that is where he won most recently, just a fortnight ago, keeping his form rolling. He is currently rated at Class 5, the bread-and-butter level of British racing, where he wins roughly 1 in every 5 races at that grade. Mulholland believes he is still improving, which for a six-year-old is genuinely encouraging. The next run is close — he raced just yesterday — so there will not be long to wait to find out if this little winning streak has further to go.