Yolanda's Star

The recent form makes for interesting reading. A third-place finish is the most recent result before a run that saw her finish eighth, with one of her three races not producing a finish at all. That dip to eighth is the kind of run that the yard — sorry, that the yard — will want to draw a line through, and given she was back placing just a day ago, there is clearly no loss of appetite for getting her back out and finding the right opportunity.

She is trained by Edward F Power, operating out of Ballycahill in Thurles, a yard that has sent out five winners already this season. That suggests a team that knows how to get a horse ready to win — which makes the search for Yolanda's Star's breakthrough feel like a matter of when rather than if. Power will have seen enough in her placed runs to keep coming back, and with a horse that ran just yesterday, the momentum is there.

At six years old, she is no youngster, and at some point the clock starts to matter. But horses can find their level at any age, and two places from three races says she is not out of her depth — she simply hasn't put it all together yet. The right race, on the right day, could change everything.