Clear Above

What stands out in the recent form is the consistency. The last six runs read 2-3-3-5-4-3, which tells a fairly clear story: this is a horse that competes, finishes races strongly enough to be mentioned, but keeps finding one or two rivals too good on the day. The second place is the one that will catch the eye — that was a race Clear Above nearly won, and the trainer will know exactly how close it came. The fifth-place finish is the one blip in an otherwise tidy sequence.

Clear Above runs out of Musley Bank in North Yorkshire, where it is trained by the father-and-son partnership of Richard and Peter Fahey. The yard has sent out 23 winners already this season, which gives a sense of the operation — this is not a small stable sending out the occasional runner and hoping for the best. It is a busy, productive yard that knows how to get horses ready to run, and that context matters. When a well-run yard keeps running a horse, it usually means they believe the win is coming.

Having raced just yesterday, Clear Above is clearly in an active campaign right now. The trainer is not hiding it away or waiting for conditions to change — the horse is being tested regularly, and the form suggests it is running well enough to deserve its place in these races. At three years old, there is still plenty of time for everything to click. The frustrating thing for anyone following this horse is that the pieces look like they are almost there. Almost is the word that defines Clear Above's season so far — but in racing, almost has a habit of turning into first place sooner or later.