Rattletheonionbag

The recent form is a mixed picture. A couple of third-place finishes in the last six races suggest there is still something to work with, though a sixth and a twelfth in the same stretch are harder to dress up. Jockey Declan McDonogh has been the regular partner, riding Rattletheonionbag nine times without managing a win together — a combination that has built plenty of experience without yet finding its reward.

The horse is trained by W P Browne at Fethard in County Tipperary, a yard that has sent out two winners so far this season. That is a modest haul, and it is fair to say the stable is not operating at the very top end of the sport right now. Rattletheonionbag raced just one day ago, so whatever happens next is not far away — and with eight places already banked in a career that clearly has some fight left in it, stranger things have happened than a first winner arriving when least expected.