Lohengrin

The win rate tells its own story: 1 from 31 is just 3%, or roughly one win every 30 races. For context, a decent horse might win 1 in every 5 or 6. What keeps Lohengrin interesting is not the winning but the placing — finishing second, third, or fourth often enough to suggest it is competitive without quite being able to get its head in front. The best version of it appears at distances between seven furlongs and a mile, where it has won 1 of 9 races (11%), which is a significantly better picture than anywhere else.

Colin Keane, one of Ireland's most accomplished jockeys, has ridden Lohengrin nine times and has yet to win on it. That is not necessarily a reflection on either of them — sometimes a partnership simply does not click, and the numbers here are too small to draw firm conclusions — but it is a curious detail for a horse that has shown it can win when things fall right.

Trained by E D Delany out of Laytown in County Meath, the yard has sent out five winners this season, so this is not a stable without firepower. At six years old, Lohengrin is not young, and recent form — finishing tenth in its last completed race — does not suggest a purple patch is brewing. But it raced just one day ago, it is still active, and that Laytown win is proof that on the right day, at the right track, over the right distance, it can get the job done. Some horses take 30 races to find the moment. Lohengrin found one.