Seven Nation Army

Seven Nation Army broke through with a debut victory at Galway on 30 July, then went quiet for six weeks before the wheels came off entirely in the last six races. Eighth, then second, first, second, sixth, and eighth again — the form is erratic, the kind of pattern you see in young horses learning their trade. The most recent outing was just yesterday, a worrying eighth-place finish that hints the horse may need time to develop rather than instant results. That said, the team at Joseph Patrick O'Brien's Owning Hill yard in Co Kilkenny — a yard that has already sent out 160 winners this season — is one of the sharpest training operations in the country. O'Brien's touch with two-year-olds is well known, and there remains every reason to think Seven Nation Army will fill out and improve. For now, though, this is a horse very much a work in progress, capable of better days but not yet ready to be taken as anything more than a work in progress.