Air Apparent

Air Apparent is a six-year-old who only got started in racing relatively recently — Mullins deliberately held him back because he is tall and lightly built, the kind of horse who needs time to fill out and strengthen before you ask him to do a proper job. He didn't run until he was nearly six, which is later than most, but there is a logic to it: push a horse like this too soon and you risk undoing the whole project.

The record so far reads zero wins from five races, with one placed finish — not the kind of numbers that jump off the page. His recent form reads 11-3-5-4-7, meaning he finished eleventh on his most recent outing, though he was third before that, and Mullins points to a fourth-place finish at Wincanton on his second run over hurdles as a genuinely encouraging sign. At this level, in these early races over jumps, learning the job is often the point. A horse who finishes fourth while still working things out can be a very different animal six months later.

Mullins describes Air Apparent as "a nice horse in the making" — careful words from a trainer who has sent out 10 winners already this season and knows the difference between a horse going nowhere and one still on the way up. The plan for now is to keep him at the minimum distance over hurdles, though Mullins expects he will need stepping up in trip before long. More significantly, he sees Air Apparent as a chaser — a horse built for jumping fences rather than hurdles — which is where the real ambition lies. Next season, on different terrain, with another summer of development behind him, this is a horse whose profile could look very different indeed.