Fast Tara

That one win came at Bellewstown back in April 2023, and it remains the only time she has reached the winner's enclosure in what is now 38 months of racing. Since then, she has been placed three times in her last six runs — finishing third twice and second once — so the form is there, the consistency is there, and yet the breakthrough has not come again. For a horse who races at distances of seven furlongs to a mile, where she has won 1 of her 12 races at those trips, there is clearly ability at that range. The question is whether she can convert another chance into a victory.

Jockey Ben Coen rides her most regularly, and together they have won 1 of their 9 races — just over 1 in every 9, or around 11% — which is a noticeably better return than her overall career average. That matters. It suggests the partnership works, and it is worth keeping in mind when Fast Tara lines up next. She raced just yesterday, so she is fit and active, and trainer Paul W Flynn's yard at Colehill in County Longford has been in sharp form this season with 21 winners already sent out. A yard firing like that tends to run horses when they are ready, not just to make up the numbers.

Fast Tara is the kind of horse that rewards patience from those watching her. She is rarely far away, she finishes races honestly, and she is trained by someone who clearly knows how to get a horse to the track in form. A second win feels like a matter of when rather than if — though racing has a way of humbling that kind of optimism.