Star Harbour

What makes Star Harbour interesting is his clear preference for the middle distances. When the race is pitched between a mile and a furlong and a mile and two furlongs, he performs significantly better, winning 2 of his 12 races at those distances — a 17 per cent win rate that stands out sharply against his overall 8 per cent. Drop him into the very top class races and his form collapses entirely; he has failed to win any of his four attempts at that elite level. This is the mark of a horse who is effective at his proper level but finds himself overmatched when the bar rises.

Adam Caffrey has been his most frequent pilot, riding him 22 times and winning three times together — a working relationship that has yielded a 14 per cent win rate, better than Star Harbour's overall record. That partnership may be worth monitoring if the horse returns to his preferred distances. Trained by Adrian McGuinness at Lusk in County Dublin, Star Harbour runs from a yard that has had plenty of winners this season, sending out 45 across all its horses. For a horse now in his ninth year of racing without recent success, the challenge is finding a race at the right level and distance to land another overdue victory.