Great Barrier Reef

The horse got going at The Curragh in Ireland back in April and has not looked back since, reeling off three consecutive wins to build an unblemished record that stands at three races, three victories. The most recent of those came just this week at Ascot — one of Britain's most famous racecourses — which tells you this is not a horse being carefully sheltered from competition. It has been taken on the road and kept winning.

Behind the horse is Aidan P O'Brien, one of the most decorated trainers in the sport. Based in Cashel, County Tipperary, his yard has sent out 138 winners already this season alone — a number that reflects an operation running at an extraordinary level. When a yard is firing out winners at that kind of volume, it can sometimes be hard for any individual horse to stand out from the crowd. Great Barrier Reef is standing out.

What makes a perfect three-from-three record genuinely interesting is what it does not tell you as much as what it does. We do not yet know how high this horse can go or how it will handle a stiffer test, but the trajectory — from a debut win in Ireland to a victory at Ascot within two months — suggests the yard are not shy about finding out. A two-year-old with this profile, trained by this yard, racing at these venues this early in the season, is one to watch.