Daneh Of Dandy

The more puzzling part of the story is what has happened since. Those six most recent runs have produced a pair of fifth-place finishes, a couple of midfield efforts, and nothing better — no wins, no real near-misses. The form figures read 13-5-11-–-8-5, which tells you this is a horse that has been competitive enough occasionally but has not been able to reproduce that winning feeling. Whether that is down to the level of competition, track conditions, or just the unpredictable business of getting a young horse to peak at the right moment, only the team back at the yard in Cashel, Co Tipperary will know for certain.

That yard, run by P Twomey, is in decent nick this season — 35 winners sent out is a solid tally and suggests the operation knows what it is doing. The more telling detail is that Daneh Of Dandy has been tried three times at the top level of British racing, Class 1 races, and has yet to trouble the scorer in any of them. Zero wins from three attempts at that level is not a disgrace — those races are brutally competitive — but it does indicate the horse is still searching for its ceiling. What we know for certain is that it can win at a decent level, it raced just one day ago so it is clearly in the thick of things right now, and at three years old there is every reason to think the best chapter may not have been written yet.