Garden Party

That first win at Cork on 14 August was the breakthrough moment, but the form since tells a more complicated story. In the last five races, Garden Party has managed only two places, finishing eighth most recently. The stretch between that Cork victory and now shows the inconsistency that haunts many talented young horses: promise followed by underperformance, with just enough decent placings to suggest the ability is still there. One win from five races means the horse wins roughly 1 in every 5 races, which is respectable enough, but the recent trend — eighth place just a day or so ago — suggests Garden Party is struggling to recapture the form that brought that August success. For a horse in O'Brien's yard, where winners flow constantly, that kind of loss of form gets noticed. The real question is whether Garden Party will find that winning touch again, or whether August was the high-water mark of a horse destined to be a perennial bridesmaid. At just three years old, there is still time to find out.