The Publican's Son

The most telling run came when finishing fifth at Leopardstown — a track that regularly hosts some of the best horses in Ireland. On that occasion, trainer Joseph Patrick O'Brien noted that the ground made it almost impossible for horses to come from behind, meaning the race effectively punished horses running the way The Publican's Son likes to run. In other words, the fifth-place finish flattered the horses in front of him as much as it shortchanged him. That kind of nuance rarely shows up in the form guide, but it is exactly the sort of detail that shapes how a trainer maps out a horse's future.

O'Brien is not a man short of options — his yard at Owning Hill in Co Kilkenny has sent out 154 winners already this season, which is a remarkable volume of success and speaks to an operation running at the highest level. When a trainer of that calibre starts talking about a horse with no wins yet making it into Group company — the elite tier of European racing — it is worth sitting up and paying attention. Group races are where the very best horses compete, and earmarking a lightly raced three-year-old for that level over seven furlongs to a mile suggests genuine confidence in what he has seen at home.

A Cork run is likely coming up next, and that could be the moment the form book finally catches up with what the team already believes. The recent sequence of 8-5-2 followed by a second last time out suggests a horse finding his feet