Killybegs Jet Lady

The recent form makes for interesting reading. Of the last six outings, two have resulted in a second-place finish, and the sequence also includes a third and a fifth — so this is not a horse that is running out of steam or simply making up the numbers. She raced just yesterday, which tells you the team are keeping her busy and believing there is a race to be won somewhere.

Jockey Alan Doyle has partnered her for 10 of those 15 races without a win between them, which is a long run of near-misses for a combination that clearly keeps getting put back together. That kind of loyalty from a yard usually means they see something in a horse that the results have not yet reflected — and with seven places from 15 races overall, it is hard to argue the faith is entirely misplaced.

She is trained by the well-regarded partnership of Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore, operating out of Milnathort in Perth and Kinross. Their yard has sent out 49 winners this season, so this is clearly a capable operation — which makes Killybegs Jet Lady a slight puzzle. She almost always runs at Class 5 level, the most accessible tier of racing, and has not won in nine attempts at that level. For context, Class 5 is where horses who struggle at higher levels come to find their feet, and even here she has not found the winning formula. It raises the question of whether she simply lacks that final gear, or whether the right conditions just have not lined up yet.

At nine, time is not exactly on her side — but racehorses have surprised people before, and given she was competing just yesterday with a second place in her recent memory, Killybegs Jet Lady is clearly not done trying.