Diligo

What gives the picture real shape is who is doing the training. Joseph Patrick O'Brien, based at Owning Hill in County Kilkenny, has sent out 160 winners already this season — that is an extraordinary volume of success, and it tells you this is one of the most powerful yards in the game right now. When a horse with Diligo's modest record sits in a stable producing winners at that rate, patience is very much part of the plan. O'Brien has the tools and the track record to find the right opportunity, and horses in this yard tend to improve as they find their feet.

Diligo raced just one day ago, which means this is a horse in active campaign, being tested and developed in real time. At three years old, with only two races behind it and a place already banked, there is every reason to think the learning curve is still pointing upward.