Viking Glory

Across six career races, Viking Glory has finished in the places twice without managing to get his nose in front, and his recent sequence of 7-12-3-5-2-4 shows a horse whose form has been wildly inconsistent. That third and second are flickers of promise, but they're surrounded by some pretty forgettable efforts, including a twelfth. At this stage, he's a horse still searching for the right conditions to put it all together.

What adds genuine intrigue here is the trainer behind him. James Owen, based at Newmarket — the heartland of British flat racing — has sent out 204 winners already this season. That is a remarkable volume of success, and it means Viking Glory isn't just in capable hands, he's in one of the most productive yards in the country right now. Owen has spoken warmly about the horse, describing him as one with a big future and earmarking him as a proper six-to-seven furlong horse — that's the shorter, sharper end of flat racing, where speed and a quick burst of acceleration matter more than stamina. The fact that Owen only received Viking Glory a couple of months ago is worth noting too. A new yard, a new routine, a new set of eyes on a horse — sometimes that's exactly what a young horse needs to start fulfilling its potential.

He raced just yesterday, so he's very much in the thick of things. The pieces aren't fully assembled yet, but with a high-calibre trainer who clearly believes in him and a clearer sense now of the distance that suits him, Viking Glory looks like a horse whose first win could arrive sooner rather than later — and when it does, it probably won't be a surprise to anyone at the Owen yard.