Eagle's Quest

Look at the last six runs and you see a horse transforming in real time: a win, a second place, and a first place in the most recent outing. That kind of sequence — finishing 6th, then 2nd, then 1st, then 1st again — is exactly what trainers dream of seeing. It suggests a horse that has found confidence, or perhaps simply found the right kind of race. That right kind of race, as it turns out, is anything over two miles. Eagle's Quest has won 1 from 8 races at long distance, which sounds modest, but all of its success has come in that category — the shorter stuff simply doesn't suit.

Behind the horse is Ms Margaret Mullins, training out of Goresbridge in Co. Kilkenny. Her yard has sent out 6 winners already this season, which speaks to a stable in decent form and a trainer who knows how to place a horse to its best advantage. Mullins has clearly identified what Eagle's Quest needs — distance, patience, and the right opportunity — and Fairyhouse, where that breakthrough came, may well be a track worth watching whenever this horse is declared.

Currently active and racing into form, Eagle's Quest is the kind of horse that rewards those paying attention. It took 13 races to get to the winner's enclosure, but the manner of the recent runs suggests that first win may not be the last.