Rakki

Trained by Willie Mullins at his base in Co Carlow — a yard that has sent out a staggering 230 winners this season alone — Rakki is competing in well-organised company, even if he hasn't always held his own. At the class of race he typically enters, he's yet to win, going 0 from 7 at that level. His single win came in lower-grade company at Roscommon, and even that didn't come without incident: jockey Paul Townend had to talk him through a mistake at the second-last fence before he held on. "He's probably done well to sort himself out and find a leg there," Townend told Racing TV, adding that his experience showed in the closing stages. Not a flawless performance, then, but an honest one.

What is genuinely interesting is the improving picture in his recent form. A year ago, he was flagged by Mullins as a horse who could "boil over" before races and was proving "a shade disappointing." Since then, his last six results read 10-3-1-2-6-16 in reverse order — meaning that run of 16th place is now several months behind him and he has finished second, third, and first in more recent outings. That's a meaningful shift. The win rate over his whole career is 1 in 17 (roughly 6%), but over his preferred trip of a mile and three-quarters to two miles, he wins 1 in every 5 races — a completely different horse at the distances that suit him. Townend noted he'll need to keep improving, which at least suggests there's a belief in the yard that there's more to come from this five-year-old.

Rakki is far from a star of the Mullins operation, but in a yard built on stars, being the quiet improver who suddenly strings three decent results together is enough to make you sit up. He raced just yesterday and remains active, which means whatever comes next will tell us whether Roscommon was the start of something or simply a nice afternoon in the sun.