Marmeladova

That recent sequence tells an interesting tale. Reading it from oldest to newest — two rough efforts, then a runner-up finish, then two more disappointing runs, and then the win — it looks like a horse that has been searching for the right conditions or the right track. Ballinrobe, a tight, undulating circuit in County Mayo, clearly suited her, and that kind of course preference can be a real weapon once the yard work it out. The fact that she ran again the very next day after that win is worth noting, though whether that was the same fixture or a rapid turnaround, it signals that her trainer K J Condon — based at Rathbride in Co Kildare — is keen to make the most of her current form.

Condon's yard has sent out four winners so far this season, so Marmeladova accounts for one of them. That is not a dominant stable firing on all cylinders, but it does mean she is among the horses they are actively trying to win with, not just filling a card. For a horse still building her record and clearly improving, being trained somewhere with live ambitions for the season is exactly where you want to be.