Four Blondes

O'Sullivan, based at Kilcullen in Co Kildare and a yard in good form with 35 winners already this season, has a clear sense of what Four Blondes needs. She has done almost all of her best work over seven furlongs to a mile, winning 1 from 12 races at those distances — and Fairyhouse, the track where she got off the mark, remains his target venue of choice. Speaking last September, he had a race over seven furlongs there firmly in mind, pointing out that she had shown what she could do around that track before. The fact he was still plotting a return there suggests he has not given up on her repeating the trick.

What she asks of you is patience. That win is now nearly two years old, and her last six races read 20th, 4th, 8th, 9th, 2nd, 8th — inconsistent, though a second place in there shows the ability still surfaces. She was beaten close home at Gowran in a run that O'Sullivan felt was partly down to tactics: she had to use up energy too early and it cost her at the finish. Her regular partner Shane Foley has ridden her in six of those races, winning once together — roughly 1 in every 6 rides — and he clearly knows her quirks. O'Sullivan has been candid about the fact she can be a little temperamental and has an unusual head carriage, but he still believes she can improve. For a horse who has raced 21 times and won just once, that kind of faith from her trainer is quietly the most interesting thing about her.