Heart Of Eternity

The recent form makes for difficult reading. The last six results read 13-14-14-8-6-13, which means finishing in the bottom half of the field, often well down the pack, in race after race. A finish of sixth or eighth suggests a horse that's competitive without quite getting there; a finish of thirteenth or fourteenth suggests a horse that's being found out by the level it's running at. When those results cluster together like this, it usually means the horse hasn't yet found its conditions — the right distance, the right ground, the right kind of race to bring out the best in it.

What does offer some encouragement is who is doing the training. Denis Gerard Hogan operates out of Cloughjordan in County Tipperary, and his yard has sent out 54 winners already this season — a serious output that tells you this is not a small operation running horses for the fun of it. Hogan has a reputation for placing horses patiently and finding races that suit, which means Heart Of Eternity is almost certainly still being figured out rather than given up on. Trainers with that kind of seasonal tally don't keep running horses that have no future.

Two placed finishes from nine races — meaning Heart Of Eternity has finished second or third twice — shows there is at least something there. It has been close enough to the front end to collect minor prize money, even if the winner's enclosure has remained out of reach. At four years old, there is still time for the penny to drop.