Galon De Vauzelle

The career arc is worth understanding. That first win came at Ballinrobe in July 2022, and the most recent — and so far last — arrived at Listowel in September 2024. Listowel is a festival track with a proper atmosphere, and landing a race there is no small thing. The problem is that was 18 months ago now, and the six races since have yielded nothing — a string of double-digit finishes and a couple of non-completions that paint a picture of a horse currently well short of its best. A fourth-place finish is buried somewhere earlier in that sequence, but recent runs have been difficult to watch.

P J O'Hanlon is the jockey who knows this horse best, riding it in 5 of its races and winning once together — that is 1 win from 5, or 20%, which is actually the most productive partnership in Galon De Vauzelle's record. When horse and rider click, it can happen. The question is whether it can happen again. At ten years old and with 34 races on the clock, the window is not getting wider, but the fact that it raced just 21 days ago confirms this horse is still being pointed at races with intent. Someone in the yard still believes there is a day out there worth chasing.

Whether that day comes is the interesting gamble. Galon De Vauzelle is the kind of horse that rewards patience and punishes assumption — it has gone long stretches between wins before, and then found one. Followers of this horse will know the feeling of waiting. They may be waiting a little longer yet.