Millhone

What makes Millhone's recent form genuinely encouraging is the pattern of consistency. In the last six races, the horse has finished second or third four times — two second-place finishes and two thirds — with only one ninth-place finish to sour the mix. This is not a horse lurching between brilliance and disaster. It is running in the placings almost every time out, learning its trade, and now finally breaking through. The fact that the breakthrough came at the right distance, at a track where the horse had raced before, suggests the trainer Charles Weld has found the right formula. Weld's Newbridge yard in County Kildare has been modest in volume this season, but a first winner this week is a solid return.

Millhone is still learning at three, and one win from 11 races leaves plenty to prove at the highest level. But the consistency, the dominant performance at the preferred distance, and the evidence of a sharp trainer who knows how to place the horse correctly, all point to a horse with genuine potential to win again soon. Watch this one.