Mr Rango

Over a mile and three to a mile and four furlongs, Mr Rango has won 3 of his 10 races at that trip — that's 30%, or nearly 1 in every 3. That is a striking contrast to his overall record, and it tells you exactly what his trainer James M Barcoe will have been targeting. When the conditions suit, this horse competes at a level that his career headline figure completely undersells. His last win came at Leopardstown in April 2024, which is now 26 months ago, and his recent run of six races without a win — finishing no better than fourth in that spell — suggests the victories are becoming harder to find as he gets older.

Barcoe trains out of Gowran in County Kilkenny and has had seven winners on the board already this season, so the yard is in decent form even if Mr Rango himself hasn't added to the tally lately. Jockey Siobhan Rutledge has partnered him nine times, winning once together — that's an 11% win rate, or 1 from 9 — which is actually a touch above Mr Rango's overall average and suggests a workable partnership rather than a transformative one.

Raced just yesterday and still active at eight years old, Mr Rango is clearly a durable sort. That kind of longevity in racing is worth something in itself. But with recent form reading 8-5-4-7-4-14 and the last win now well over two years ago, it would take a return to that favourite distance — and probably a favourable run of things — to get him back in the winner's enclosure. Don't write him off entirely at a mile and three or four, but don't expect him to make it easy either.