Oviedo

The trainer behind those moments is Alexandra Dunn, who runs a small yard out of West Buckland in Somerset. It is not a name that dominates the headlines — two winners this season tells you this is a tight operation — but Dunn had Oviedo firing at exactly the right moment in mid-2023. After that Redcar win, the talk was of Royal Ascot. That is not a small thing for a trainer of Dunn's size to be saying out loud.

The problem is that 37 months have now passed since that win, and the six most recent results — all finishing ninth or tenth — suggest Oviedo is well past his best days. He has raced six times at Class 1 level, the very top tier of British racing, and has not won once. Jockey Callum Rodriguez has partnered him nine times for one win together, a rate of roughly 1 in 9, but that single win came when everything clicked in the right conditions.

Those conditions matter. On fast, dry ground, Oviedo is a different proposition — 2 wins from 8 races (25%), meaning he wins 1 in every 4 times the ground suits him. At his best trip of seven furlongs to a mile, he has won 1 from 5. The issue is that those peaks feel increasingly distant. He raced just yesterday, still active at six years old, still turning up — but the form says the horse who nearly went to Royal Ascot has likely had his moment.