Spirit Above

Trained by Kevin Michael Smith out of Kilmessan in County Meath, Spirit Above is part of a yard that has quietly been getting horses over the line this season, sending out five winners. Smith's operation isn't one of the giant stables, which means each runner tends to get genuine attention rather than being lost in a crowd of forty horses. Whether that focused care can help Spirit Above find a race it can get competitive in remains to be seen.

At this stage, the honest summary is that Spirit Above is a horse still searching for its moment. Not every three-year-old develops on a smooth curve, and five races is a small sample. The question for the yard — sorry, for the trainer — is whether there's a race out there that suits the horse better than the ones it has tried so far.