Eleanor Shelby

The shape of Eleanor Shelby's runs tells a clearer story than the bare figures. Over distances between seven furlongs and a mile, she has won one from three races, a 33 percent win rate that stands out against her overall record of one in five. When the trip suits her, she runs much better. Her recent form is mixed—she finished second and third in her last two outings before the win, and sixth and seventh before that—but that win at Dundalk came fresh and suggests she may respond well to racing. At this stage of her career, consistency matters less than the direction of travel, and a three-year-old improving into her races is exactly what a trainer wants to see. O'Brien clearly believes there is more to come, and a horse raced as actively as this one usually is being pointed toward something. Watch the distance and the ground when she races next—if she gets the mile and a fair surface, she is worth following.