Cannes

The record reads one win and two second-place finishes from three races, which is a remarkable return. Winning a third of all your races — and placing in the other two — means Cannes has essentially never had a bad day at the track. That kind of consistency from a young horse so early in a career is exactly what gets people paying attention.

The yard behind Cannes is no small operation. Joseph Patrick O'Brien trains out of Owning Hill in County Kilkenny, and his team has sent out 160 winners already this season — a number that speaks to serious infrastructure and serious horsemanship. When a yard of that size and quality bothers to run a three-year-old, it usually means they think they have something worth running. With Cannes, that faith appears entirely justified.