Los Blanco

Since that win seven months ago, Los Blanco has been knocking on the door without quite getting over the line again. His recent form reads 2-–-1-3-2-4, which is really a story of near-misses: two second-place finishes, a third, and a fourth among his last six outings. He's finished in the placings in five of those six races, which tells you he is running well and staying competitive, even if the wins aren't coming. With only one victory from seven races across his career, he sits on a 14 percent win rate — roughly one win every seven attempts — but those placings suggest there is genuine ability in there, just waiting for the right race and the right circumstances to align again.

Los Blanco races for Henry De Bromhead's powerful Knockeen yard in County Waterford, which has already sent out 110 winners this season alone. The horse is ridden most often by Darragh O'Keeffe, though that partnership hasn't yet produced a winner from five attempts together. At seven years old, Los Blanco is a horse entering the middle years of his racing life, well past the point where early promise would have manifested as consistent success. What he offers now is the kind of form that keeps owners coming back: he runs, he competes, he finishes near the front — he just needs the pieces to fall into place one more time. That December win at Down Royal proved he can do it. The question now is whether he can find another.