Lord Lariat

His record has a distinct postcode. Both of his recorded wins have come at Fairyhouse, the last of them in April 2022, and that track affiliation runs through everything Dermot McLoughlin says about him. After a reappearance run at Punchestown, McLoughlin was pleasantly surprised — he'd been anxious about Lord Lariat carrying top weight on the day's ground conditions, yet the horse just kept galloping. "He's improving and maybe he's a bit stronger now," the trainer said, which is a striking thing to say about an 11-year-old. It's a reminder that some horses develop slowly, and that experience and physical maturity can still make a difference late in a career.

The partnership with jockey P J O'Hanlon tells a similar story: 2 wins from 13 races together, a 15% win rate — roughly 1 in every 6 or 7 rides. That's a steady relationship rather than a spectacular one, but consistency between horse and rider matters, and O'Hanlon clearly knows what makes Lord Lariat tick. Post-race comments after the Fairyhouse win revealed a deliberate jumping-first strategy — McLoughlin wanted the horse to use his natural ability over the fences, with the jockey careful to let him breathe and find his rhythm. It worked.

The last win came 49 months ago, and his last six runs have produced no victories and some modest finishing positions. But the trainer's ambitions haven't shrunk with the results. McLoughlin, who has sent out 10 winners from his yard at Bodeen in Ratoath this season, has spoken about targeting the Grand National at Aintree — one of the most famous races in the world — as a genuine goal. That's a big statement for any horse, let alone one who last won four years ago. Whether Lord Lariat has one more memorable chapter in him is the question, but his trainer clearly believes the answer is yes.