Port Darwin

The recent form — reading back from his last race — goes 5-3-5-1-5-7, which looks a little all over the place at first glance. But buried in there is that third-place finish, and the win before it, suggesting he is capable of performing when conditions and distance align. He has had a short break of just under six weeks since his last run, which often signals a trainer is giving a horse a quick reset rather than addressing any serious issue.

That trainer is Charlie Johnston, operating out of Middleham Moor in North Yorkshire. Johnston's yard has sent out 129 winners already this season — a serious operation by any measure, the kind of stable that places horses carefully and knows exactly what it has. The fact that Port Darwin is still being tested and placed suggests the team sees enough promise to keep going.

One area that stands out less favourably is his record in the grade of race he most often runs in. At Class 5 — which is towards the lower end of the racing ladder — he has not yet won in three attempts, which is a little surprising given that is supposed to be his level. It raises a quiet question: is he better than his record suggests, or does he just need everything to go right? His Musselburgh win, at a slightly higher grade, hints it might be the former. He is still only three, still learning, and with a trainer sending out winners at that kind of rate, Port Darwin looks like a horse with at least one more good day ahead of him.