Ceroc

The most interesting number in Ceroc's profile is actually a small one. On wet or muddy ground, Ceroc has won 2 of just 5 races — a 40% win rate. To put that in perspective, most racehorses win somewhere between 10% and 20% of their races at best, and that is if things are going well. Two wins from five on soft ground suggests this horse genuinely transforms when conditions turn in its favour. When it rains in Ireland, Ceroc becomes a different animal.

Regular partner Phillip Enright has been on board for 15 of those 31 races and has ridden both of Ceroc's wins, making them a natural pairing. That works out to 2 wins from 15 together — roughly 1 in every 7 or 8 rides, which comfortably outperforms the overall career average and suggests Enright has a good understanding of how to get the best from this horse.

The shadow over all of this is timing. Both wins came in May 2023 — first at Cork, then at Wexford — and it has been 36 months without a victory since. Ceroc has raced six times recently without troubling the judge, finishing as far back as seventh. For a horse that has shown a real talent for soft ground, the question now is whether that winning thread can be picked back up, or whether those two wins in the spring of 2023 represent the high point of the career. Slattery's yard has sent out 60 winners this season alone, so the support structure is clearly there. What Ceroc needs now is a wet day and a bit of luck.