Lureka Du Noyer

The numbers tell you why. From three races, Lureka Du Noyer has won two and been placed in the other, a win rate of roughly two in three. That is an exceptional win rate at this stage of a career, the kind of record you see when a horse has found its level and is beating its rivals consistently. The first win came at Limerick on 28 May, and since then the horse has won again and been placed once — a pattern that suggests Henry De Bromhead, the trainer at Knockeen in County Waterford, has got this horse running in the races where it belongs.

De Bromhead's yard is one of the busiest and most successful in Ireland. It has already sent out 110 winners this season, which tells you the operation is finding winners regularly. That context matters: Lureka Du Noyer is thriving in a yard where horses are trained hard and run often, and where the trainer knows how to get a horse ready for each outing. The fact that this horse raced yesterday and is being kept in work suggests there is more to come. In racing, active horses are usually active for a reason — the trainer has identified another opportunity and believes the horse is ready for it.