Satoyama

Trained by Joseph Patrick O'Brien at Owning Hill in County Kilkenny, Satoyama is in excellent hands. O'Brien's yard has sent out 160 winners already this season — that is a remarkable volume of success and speaks to an operation firing on all cylinders. When a trainer is winning at that rate, horses in the yard tend to be placed in races they can genuinely compete in, which makes Satoyama's record of 1 win and 1 place from just 4 outings look like a solid foundation rather than a lucky fluke.

The recent form reads 6-4-1-5 going back from yesterday, meaning that Gowran Park win sits right in the middle of a mixed sequence. The horse has shown it can compete — the placed effort and the win confirm that — but the sixth and fifth place finishes on either side suggest it is still finding its feet at this level. That is not unusual for a three-year-old still learning the game.