Coeur d'Or

The partnership with jockey Chris Hayes is the most telling thread running through Coeur d'Or's story. In 22 races together, Hayes has ridden the horse to all 4 of its career wins — a win rate of 18%, or roughly 1 in every 5 rides together. That is meaningfully better than the horse's overall record, which suggests the two have a genuine understanding. When Hayes is in the saddle, something clicks.

Coeur d'Or broke through for its first win at Laytown in September 2022 — a famously unusual seaside track where races are run on the beach at low tide, which makes it one of the more memorable venues on the Irish racing calendar. The most recent win came at The Curragh in August 2023, and that is now 32 months ago — a long gap that will not have gone unnoticed. The last 6 races have brought no wins, with a sequence that includes a handful of mid-field efforts and one bright second-place finish, suggesting the horse is still running competitively even if the winning has dried up.

The trainer is D K Weld, one of the most respected names in Irish racing, operating out of Curragh in Co Kildare. The yard has sent out 29 winners already this season, so this is not a quiet backwater operation — Coeur d'Or is trained by someone who knows exactly how to place a horse to give it the best chance. Raced just one day ago, Coeur d'Or is clearly an active and durable campaigner at an age when many horses have long since retired. Whether another win is coming is the open question, but a horse still racing at 10, still finishing in the places, trained by a yard firing on all cylinders, is not one to write off lightly.