White Sand Beach

The recent form tells an interesting story. A third place, then a blank, then a twelfth, then back-to-back seconds in the last two runs — that's a horse that dipped in form and has come back sharper. Two consecutive runner-up finishes, including a race just yesterday, point to a horse building toward something. The question is whether White Sand Beach can find that final gear to convert one of these near-misses into a victory.

Regular rider Wayne Lordan has been aboard for five of those nine races and is yet to win on the horse, going 0 from 5 together. That's a partnership that keeps getting close but hasn't clicked yet — though given the horse's overall form, that's more about margins than about anything going wrong between horse and jockey.

What adds real intrigue here is the yard behind the horse. Trainer Aidan P O'Brien, based in Cashel, County Tipperary, is one of the most decorated trainers in the world, and his operation has sent out 125 winners already this season alone. When a yard of that calibre keeps running a horse, keeps putting a top jockey on its back, and keeps entering it in races, they clearly believe there is a win waiting to happen. Stables like O'Brien's don't persist with horses they've given up on. The patience being shown with White Sand Beach speaks louder than the win column currently does. With two places in its last two runs and a race just 24 hours ago, this is a horse very much in the middle of its story — not at the end of it.