L'As de Watt

The recent form tells a mixed story: second, then seventh, then fifth reading back from the most recent run, which came just yesterday. That middle result — a seventh — is the one that will have raised eyebrows, sandwiched between two more respectable efforts. It suggests a horse that hasn't quite found its level yet, still working out what it can and can't do. At five years old, there is time, but the clock is ticking.

Philip Fenton trains L'As de Watt out of Carrick-On-Suir in County Tipperary, and the yard has shown it knows how to win this season — seven winners already to its name. That context matters. When a trainer is clearly in form and a horse still hasn't broken through, it tends to mean the horse is the variable, not the team around it. Whether L'As de Watt can reward Fenton's patience remains to be seen, but with a run just 24 hours ago, the answer won't be long in coming.