Ceanndana

The most striking number in Ceanndana's record is what happens when Keith Donoghue gets the leg up. In nine races together, the pair have won five times — that's winning more than half their races as a partnership, a remarkable hit rate by any standard. For context, most jockey-horse combinations at this level are doing well to win one in five. The fact that Donoghue has been aboard for all five of Ceanndana's career wins tells you this isn't coincidence. There's clearly something about how he rides this horse — the rhythm, the timing, the understanding — that brings out the best in it.

The career got started at Downpatrick in July 2023, and the most recent win came at Sligo in October 2024. That's now 20 months without a victory, and the last six runs read 6-3-9-2-3-5 — competitive enough, with a couple of placed efforts, but the winning feeling has been elusive. A nine-year-old who hasn't won in nearly two years isn't a horse on the way up, but the placed form suggests it hasn't gone away entirely either.

Ross O'Sullivan trains Ceanndana out of Kilcullen in County Kildare, and the yard has been in strong form this season with 35 winners already. That's a busy, functioning operation, and Ceanndana remains active — it raced just yesterday. Whether the Donoghue partnership can conjure one more winning performance is the interesting question. The evidence says it's possible. The recent record says it won't be straightforward.