French Diablo

The recent run of results tells a decent story. Reading from left to right — a win, a third place, a gap in the record, then an eighth and a sixth before that — you can see a horse who has been inconsistent but is clearly improving in the right direction. The two placed efforts alongside that win suggest French Diablo is competitive more often than not; he just hasn't always had everything click at once. Now that it has, at Stratford, the question is whether he can build on it quickly.

Behind the horse is Max Comley, training out of Warminster in Wiltshire. Comley's yard has sent out 18 winners this season, which speaks to a stable in good health — horses tend to run well when a yard is firing, and French Diablo's win fits neatly into that pattern. A trainer in confident form with horses running to their potential is exactly the environment a young horse needs to keep progressing. Whether French Diablo steps up in class or returns to somewhere like Stratford to consolidate remains to be seen, but right now, he is one to keep an eye on.