Matilda Joslyngage

What is encouraging, though, is the direction of travel. Her last four results, read from most recent to oldest, go 4-2-6-7 — and that is a sequence worth reading twice. She finished seventh, then sixth, then ran a much-improved second, and most recently came home fourth. That is not a horse going backwards. That is a horse learning her job race by race, and the second place in particular suggests she is capable of competing seriously when things click.

She ran just yesterday, which means she is a horse firmly in the middle of her season and clearly being kept busy. Trainer Kevin Coleman, based in Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary, has had ten winners on the board this season — a yard in decent form and not short of confidence. With that kind of momentum behind the operation, Matilda Joslyngage will likely get every opportunity to turn her promising recent runs into an actual victory before long.