Nod Of Approval

What works firmly in Nod Of Approval's favour is the yard behind it. Mrs John Harrington, operating out of Moone in Co Kildare, has sent out 51 winners already this season — that is a serious training operation with serious firepower. When a trainer of that calibre keeps running a horse, it usually means they believe there is a race to be won somewhere. Nod Of Approval raced just one day ago, so it is very much in the thick of a busy campaign, and the team clearly has not given up on finding the right opportunity.

The recent form tells an interesting story. Two dashes in the last six results indicate the horse did not finish — whether through being pulled up or withdrawn — so the actual picture is a little murkier than a straight run of near-misses. A second place in the most recent completed result, though, is a positive sign that form may be on the way up. For a horse still learning its trade at three, that kind of upward tick is exactly what the yard — sorry, what the yard — will be hoping to build on.