Romanticizing

What makes the picture more impressive is who is doing the training. William Haggas, based at Newmarket in Suffolk, is one of the most respected names in the sport, and his yard has sent out 170 winners already this season alone. That is not a quiet backwater operation — that is a factory of racehorses run with serious intent. When a yard of that calibre bothers to send a three-year-old to Redcar, they tend to have a reason, and Romanticizing duly delivered.

The win rate of 33 percent — one win from three races — sounds modest until you consider that most racehorses go their entire careers without ever winning at all. Finishing in the top three in every single race you have ever entered is genuinely unusual, and suggests a horse that does not waste energy running badly. Whether that consistency holds as the competition stiffens is the question worth watching. Romanticizing raced just one day ago, so the answer may come sooner than you think.