Hermino AA

The nine-year-old is trained by E McNamara out of Rathkeale in County Limerick, a yard that has sent out 22 winners already this season — so this is not a small operation relying on one horse to carry the flag. McNamara has been candid about Hermino AA's path: an experiment over fences early last season did not go to plan, and the yard made the sensible call to bring him back to hurdles. That decision paid off with a second place in a premier race at Sandown, which is exactly the kind of performance that suggests there is more to this horse than his day-to-day Class 3 results might indicate. At that level, he has won just 1 from 7 races — but the Sandown run proves he can step up when the occasion demands it.

The best version of Hermino AA comes out in wet or muddy conditions. On soft or heavy ground he has won 2 of his 6 races — a 33% win rate, or roughly 1 in every 3. That is a meaningful pattern, not a coincidence. His first career win came at Plumpton in January 2023, a track that can serve up some proper winter conditions, and his most recent win arrived at Roscommon just this week in June 2026 — proof that he is very much in form right now. When Jamie Moore is in the saddle, the results improve noticeably: 2 wins from 7 rides together (29%), nearly 1 in every 3 races, which is the kind of partnership that makes a trainer reach for the same phone number when a race comes up.

A horse still winning races at nine, on the back of a performance just days ago, is a horse that loves what it does. Hermino AA is worth watching whenever the forecast turns wet.