Sweet Baby Zou

That single result tells us little on its own. Ninth place in a first race is hardly unusual; plenty of horses need that initial experience before they start showing what they're really capable of. What matters more at this stage is who is doing the training. Sweet Baby Zou is in the care of Joseph Patrick O'Brien at Owning Hill in Co Kilkenny, and that is a serious operation by any measure. O'Brien's yard has sent out 153 winners already this season — a number that puts them firmly among the elite training outfits in Ireland. When a stable is firing at that volume, they tend to know which horses are worth persevering with and which aren't.

For now, Sweet Baby Zou is an unknown quantity. One race, no wins, no places — but in the hands of one of the sharpest yards in the game, it would be premature to draw any conclusions at all.