Rochestown

Start with the ground. On very wet and muddy tracks, Rochestown has won 2 of just 3 races — a 67% win rate that is almost comically dominant. Most horses tolerate conditions; this one actively thrives on them. When the rain comes down and rival trainers are wincing at the forecast, Brendan Maurice Walsh's yard in Doneraile, Co Cork, is probably rather pleased.

Then there is Tramore. The seaside track in County Waterford has become something close to a second home for this horse, with 4 wins from 8 races there. To put that in context: winning half your races at any track, over a career spanning 19 outings, is the kind of record that makes a course specialist genuinely valuable. Racecourses have their own quirks — the camber of a bend, the drainage of the soil, the way the ground sits after rain — and some horses simply read them better than others. Rochestown reads Tramore like a favourite book.

The recent form is encouraging too. Two wins from the last 6 races, including a victory at Tramore as recently as 13 April 2025, show this is no fading force. The sequence of results — a win, then a run where things didn't click, then another win — is the pattern of a horse still capable on its day. Walsh's yard has sent out 3 winners already this season, so the operation is in decent shape around it.

At 11 years old, Rochestown is deep into what you might call the veteran stage, but the fact it raced just one day ago and is clocking wins in spring 2025 says everything about its durability. The first career win came at Punchestown back in February 2023, and the horse has kept delivering since. Not the flashiest profile in racing, but sometimes the most reliable stories are the ones that keep quietly repeating themselves — particularly when the skies open over Tramore.