South Dakota

The telling detail is how South Dakota performs at distances between seven furlongs and a mile. Over this range, the horse has won 1 of 3 races — a 33 percent win rate that is genuinely noteworthy for a juvenile still in its first season. That breakthrough victory came at Roscommon on 31 August, and while five weeks have passed since that success, the horse remains active and was back in competition just yesterday. The recent run sequence reads 7-1-3-3-4-4: a seventh-place finish most recently, but before that two consecutive third-place efforts. This is a horse that is mixing promising runs with inconsistent ones — typical of a young animal finding its level.

O'Brien's yard at Cashel has already sent out 125 winners this season, so South Dakota is part of one of British and Irish racing's most formidable operations. The horse is worth watching in races pitched at its optimal distance, where the form suggests it belongs in the conversation. For now, it remains a work in progress — but one being trained by a master and showing enough promise to suggest better days are ahead.