White Sand Beach

The recent form makes for interesting reading. Three of the last four completed races have produced top-two finishes, which is the kind of consistency that keeps the yard — sorry, that keeps a trainer interested and a yard optimistic. The one blip, an eighth-place finish sandwiched in there, looks like the exception rather than the rule. Raced just yesterday, White Sand Beach is clearly in an active campaign and being kept busy.

Wayne Lordan has been the regular partner, teaming up five times without a win between them — but again, the absence of a victory shouldn't obscure the fact that the horse has been placing regularly. The pair simply haven't managed to convert yet. Whether that changes soon may depend on finding the right race at the right moment.

The most significant thing about White Sand Beach, though, might be where it lives. Being trained by Aidan Patrick O'Brien at Cashel in County Tipperary puts this horse at one of the most powerful yards in the world. O'Brien's team has sent out 125 winners this season alone — that is a remarkable volume of success, and it means every horse in that stable is prepared to the very highest standard. A horse that hasn't won yet but sits in that environment is not a horse that's been forgotten about. If anything, it suggests the team believes there is a win — or more — in White Sand Beach when the moment is right. Seven places from ten races, trained by one of the best in the business, and raced just yesterday: this story is still very much being written.