Ishan

The most interesting thing about Ishan is how dramatically the numbers shift depending on the conditions and the venue. On wet, muddy ground — the kind of heavy going that turns racecourses into something resembling a ploughed field — Ishan has won 2 from 8 races, a 25% win rate that puts it in an entirely different category to its overall record. That's winning 1 in every 4 races on soft ground, compared to roughly 1 in 14 on everything else. Plenty of horses tolerate the mud; Ishan actively thrives in it.

Then there's Limerick. In four visits to that track, Ishan has won twice — a 50% record that is genuinely remarkable. To put that in perspective, most horses race at a course a dozen times and never win there at all. Something about Limerick suits this horse, whether it's the track layout, the ground that tends to be on offer there in winter, or simply good fortune that has repeated itself. The most recent of those wins came on 28 December 2023, now 29 months ago, which is a long time between visits for a horse with such a strong record there.

The partnership with jockey Phillip Enright tells a similar story of quiet reliability. Together they've won 3 of their 21 races — 14%, or roughly 1 in every 7 — which is comfortably better than Ishan's overall average and suggests the combination works. Enright has been in the saddle for the majority of this horse's career and knows it well.

Recent form, though, is harder to sell. Ishan has gone six races without a win, with finishes of eighth, ninth, fifth, and third telling the story of a horse that is competitive without quite getting there. It raced just yesterday, so the yard are clearly keeping it busy. The question is whether a return to Limerick — ideally in the depths of winter, on a wet track — might be the thing to unlock that winning feeling again.