Moonshine Girl

Her recent form makes for tough reading. Looking at her last six races, she has two eighth-place finishes and a third place as the only notable result, with the rest trailing off into the pack. That third place shows she can occasionally find something on the right day, but the consistency simply hasn't been there. She raced just yesterday, so she is clearly an active, busy sort — the team at Athenry keep her ticking over and in the game.

Her most regular partner in the saddle is Danny Gilligan, who shares the Gilligan surname with trainer Paul John Gilligan — a family operation based in Co Galway. Together, Danny and Moonshine Girl have gone 0 from 7, which tells its own story. The yard has sent out five winners this season, so they clearly know how to win races — it just hasn't happened with this particular horse. Moonshine Girl typically runs at Class 5, the lower end of the racing ladder, and has yet to win at that level either, going 0 from 3 in those contests.

The honest truth is that some horses find their moment late, and some never quite find it at all. Moonshine Girl is not without ability — four places from 18 races means she has been competitive enough to matter on several occasions — but ability and winning are different things. At seven, with no win on the board and recent form that hasn't set pulses racing, she would need a significant step forward to change the narrative. Still, the fact she ran yesterday and keeps being entered suggests the Gilligan yard believes there is something worth chasing. Whether Moonshine Girl agrees is, as ever, entirely up to her.