One Number

The most recent form tells an interesting story. A third-place finish last time out is encouraging, particularly when you consider that the run before it was a more distant eighteenth — a bad day at the office that could easily be forgotten if this latest effort is the truer picture. With a race just yesterday, this is a horse very much in the thick of its campaign right now.

Where One Number has a serious advantage is in the stable behind it. Joseph Patrick O'Brien, training out of Owning Hill in County Kilkenny, has sent out 160 winners already this season — a remarkable output that puts his yard among the most productive in Ireland. When a trainer is firing in winners at that kind of rate, even the horses still searching for their first win tend to be well-placed and well-prepared. O'Brien has built a reputation for patient, intelligent handling of young horses, and a two-year-old with two placed finishes from three races is exactly the kind of project a yard like his can develop. The first win may still be coming, but One Number is in about as good a place as any young horse could be to find it.