Shaihaan

Trained by Donnacha Aidan O'Brien at Ballyroe in County Tipperary, Shaihaan sits in capable hands. The yard has fired out 30 winners already this season, which tells you this is not a team that sends horses out without a plan. O'Brien knows what it takes to get a young horse ready for a big occasion, and Shaihaan's Curragh win at the end of March was a decent early statement.

The overall record reads one win and two placed efforts from five races — a 20% win rate, or roughly one win in every five outings. For a three-year-old still learning the job, that is a solid foundation rather than a disappointing tally. The recent form figures of 4-1-4-2-7 tell their own story: a winner, a runner-up, and a couple of fourth-place finishes bookend a run that was slightly off the pace. The horse has been consistently competitive without quite reproducing that best form since the Curragh. Having raced just yesterday, Shaihaan is clearly being kept busy, which usually means the team believes there is more improvement to come.

At three, horses are still maturing, and the ones trained by this yard tend to get better as the season progresses. Whether Shaihaan can rediscover that March sparkle is the question worth watching.