Rathnaleen Aj is still looking for a first win after two starts without troubling the placings. The 4-year-old, trained by
Eoin Christopher McCarthy at Athea in County Limerick, has finished tenth and sixth in its last two races. McCarthy's yard is having a solid season with 15 winners so far, so the horse is in a place where it should be getting decent opportunities. With just those two races on the record, there is still everything to prove, but the recent form suggests the horse is gradually finding its feet — the jump from tenth to sixth shows small signs of improvement. Given that Rathnaleen Aj raced just a day ago, it is clearly an active part of the yard's plans for the season ahead.