Jackie Jump Up

That third place last time out is the number to focus on. After a difficult middle patch — that 10th-place finish will have been one to forget quickly — Jackie Jump Up came back and ran into a place, which suggests there may be more to come once things click into place. Racing just yesterday, this is a horse very much in the thick of its season right now.

The trainer is J P Murtagh, operating out of Coolaghknock Glebe in County Kildare, and the yard has been in fine form this season with 54 winners already on the board. That kind of firepower from a trainer matters — horses in a well-run yard with a full book of winners tend to be placed in races where they have a genuine chance, so when Murtagh decides to run Jackie Jump Up, it is reasonable to think there is a plan behind it. Zero wins from four races is not what anyone wants to see, but being three years old, trained by someone clearly capable of getting results, and showing signs of improvement in the most recent runs means the first win may not be far away.