Galeron

The problem is that was 45 months ago. Galeron has run six times since without finding the winner's enclosure, and his most recent sequence — sixth, twelfth, second, fourth, third, fifth — tells the story of a horse who can get involved but can't quite seal the deal. The second place in that run is the flicker of hope; the twelfth is the cold water. He races most often at Class 2, one step below the very top level in Britain, and has drawn a blank in all eight of those races. That's a tough bracket to compete in, and going winless across eight attempts at that level suggests the gap between Galeron and the horses just ahead of him is small but stubborn.

Where things get genuinely interesting is what Hills said back in 2023. He was openly mulling a step up in distance — over a mile and a quarter — pointing to how Galeron had finished fourth in the 2,000 Guineas and fifth in the Irish version, each time hitting the line strongly and suggesting there might be more to come over longer trips. That experiment, if it ever fully happened, doesn't appear to have produced a win. But it's a reminder that this is a horse who has mixed it with serious company and not been disgraced.

Galeron raced just yesterday and is clearly still in training. At his best over five to six and a half furlongs — he's won 1 from 3 at those distances, a healthy 33% — Hills has a horse who can show up on the right day. The question is whether that day comes again.