Killultagh Fox

What does matter, and matters a great deal, is who has the horse in their care. W P Mullins, based at Muine Bheag in Co Carlow, is one of the most powerful training operations in the sport. The yard has sent out 220 winners already this season — a number that is almost hard to process. That is not a lucky streak; that is a factory of racehorses being prepared to an exceptionally high standard, day after day. When a trainer of that calibre keeps a horse in training and runs it, there is usually a reason. Patience is a tool Mullins uses better than almost anyone.

Having raced just yesterday, Killultagh Fox is clearly fit and active. With only two races on the clock, there is still very little to read into — some horses take time to figure things out, and a yard sending out winners at that volume has seen plenty of slow burners eventually click. The story here is not what has happened, but what might be coming.