Brussels

What Brussels has been doing in those six races is running at the very top level — Class 1, the elite tier of British and Irish racing — and finishing second twice, including a runner-up spot in the Middle Park Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Placing at that level without winning it is still a serious achievement. It means Brussels has been mixing it with the best young horses in the world and not disgracing himself.

The trainer is Aidan O'Brien, whose Cashel yard has sent out 144 winners already this season — a number that tells you this is one of the most powerful operations in European racing. O'Brien has been notably patient with Brussels, describing him as "babyish" and physically immature — a big, powerful horse who is still learning the job. That framing matters. When a trainer of O'Brien's stature keeps running a horse at the highest level despite it not winning, it usually means he's investing in experience rather than chasing results. The plan, as O'Brien has made clear, is to build towards the Commonwealth Cup — one of the most prestigious sprint races of the summer at Royal Ascot — with the wins expected to follow once the horse matures and finds faster ground underfoot.

Brussels raced just yesterday, which means he's fit and actively campaigning. There's a sense that everything so far has been groundwork. O'Brien has said pointedly that all the experience Brussels is accumulating this year will serve him well — and with a horse this physically imposing, that reads less like spin and more like genuine belief in what's coming.