Layfayette

The real key to Layfayette is understanding what brings out the best in him. Wet, muddy ground transforms this horse. On soft ground, he has won 3 times from just 5 races — that is 60%, or three in every five attempts. On fast, dry ground, the story is different, but give him cut in the ground and you are looking at a completely different proposition. Limerick has also become something of a favourite hunting ground: 2 wins from just 3 visits there makes it the course where he is most likely to deliver. His jockey after that most recent win noted that he had to navigate a loose horse on the track and still won easily — which tells you something about how comfortable he was that day.

His trainer Noel Meade, whose yard has sent out 42 winners already this season, has long known that Layfayette is a horse who needs everything to line up just right. After an early-career setback at Naas, Meade revealed the horse had received treatment on his back and got unfit during the break — a small detail that explains what might otherwise look like a blip in the form book. When conditions suit, Meade has spoken warmly of the horse's ability to travel through a race and pick off his rivals late.

The one area where Layfayette has come up short is when stepping up to the very best company. In three attempts at the top level, he has not managed a win. But that is perhaps the wrong lens through which to view him. He is not a horse built for the grandest occasions — he is a horse built for Limerick on a wet afternoon in June, and he proved this week that he still knows exactly how to win one of those.