God The Highness

At three years old, it has plenty of racing ahead, and its recent form figures tell an interesting story. Reading from most recent back, the sequence goes 6-3-6-4-11-2, which means its last two efforts before the current five-month break were a rough one (finishing 11th) followed by a strong second place. That's the kind of shape you'd want a horse to be in heading into a break — going out on an encouraging note rather than a bad one. Whether it returns in the same form is the big question after five months away from the track.

The partnership with jockey Shane Foley hasn't clicked yet — six races together and still no win between them — but that's less damning than it sounds when the horse itself hasn't won at all. The whole campaign is essentially one long search for the right conditions, the right race, and the right day to all line up at once.

What does give genuine reason for optimism is who is doing the training. Mrs John Harrington's yard in Moone, Co Kildare has sent out 52 winners already this season — that's a stable running in very good form, and horses in good yards tend to get their opportunities carefully managed. They know what they're doing, and a horse that has shown enough to place twice in nine races is clearly not without ability. It just hasn't found the moment to put it all together yet.

For a casual observer, God The Highness is essentially a project still in progress — a young horse with a bit of promise, in the hands of a strong team, coming back from a break and needing to prove it can rediscover the form that earned that second place. The first win is overdue. Whether it arrives on the next run or takes a few more attempts, the ingredients are at least in place.