Fregada

Trained by John James Feane, whose yard sits just a short drive from The Curragh itself in Co Kildare, Fregada has a natural home circuit advantage. Feane's team has sent out 8 winners this season, so the operation is ticking over well, and a horse with this kind of placed consistency is exactly the type a smaller yard keeps faith with. It may not be a headline act, but it pays its way.

What is worth watching is the recent form. Reading it right to left — 1, 2, 7, 1, and then a non-finish — the picture is mixed but not without promise. That second place is a reminder that the talent is there, even if the sequence has been inconsistent. Racing just one day ago, Fregada is clearly fit and active, which matters more than it might sound. Horses in regular work, with a trainer who keeps them on the track, often find their moment in a spell of good form rather than out of nowhere.

Twenty months is a long time to wait for a second win, and it would be easy to write off a horse like this. But the placed form says it has not been disgraced, and The Curragh — where it all started — remains a regular venue. Sometimes a course just suits a horse in ways that are hard to explain, and when everything clicks again at a track it knows well, these are exactly the horses that catch you by surprise.