Black Soul

That one win came at Down Royal on 5 May 2025, and it arrived over a long distance — more than two miles. This is where Black Soul is at its most comfortable. In 11 races at that kind of trip, the horse has won once, which works out at around 9%, or roughly 1 in every 11 runs. That might not sound like much, but for a horse with Black Soul's overall record, finding a distance that suits at all is significant. Staying races tend to reward toughness and a certain willingness to grind, and that appears to be where this horse finds its best self.

Recent form, however, makes uncomfortable reading. Black Soul has not won in its last six races, with finishing positions of 22nd, 8th, 9th, and three unfinished or unplaced efforts before that. Racing just one day ago, the horse is clearly still active and being kept busy. Trainer Conor Houlihan, based in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, has sent out three winners this season from his yard, so there is form in the operation — the question is whether Black Soul can add to it.

At seven years old, the horse is entering the phase of its career where experience should count for something. It knows the game. It has felt a winner's enclosure at Down Royal, even if that moment now sits 13 months in the past. Whether it can recapture that is genuinely uncertain, but the yard is still running it, still believing, and in racing, that counts for something too.