Watercraft

The one significant thing working in this horse's favour is who is saddling it up. Richard Hannon's yard at Herridge in Wiltshire is one of the most powerful operations in British racing, and this season alone they have sent out 118 winners — a number that puts them firmly among the elite trainers in the country. When a yard is firing at that kind of volume, horses that look ordinary early in their careers do sometimes find their feet as the season goes on. Hannon is particularly good at developing younger horses, and a three-year-old with only three races under its belt is still very much a work in progress.

Watercraft raced just one day ago, so it is bang in the middle of its campaign. Whether that last run showed any signs of improvement is the key question. For now, the honest summary is this: a horse that has not figured yet, but sitting in exactly the right hands to change that.