Rusheen

Trained by Terence O'Brien out of Carrigtoohill in County Cork — a yard that has already sent out 10 winners this season — Rusheen has been a steady if unspectacular contributor to the stable. Danny Mullins has been the regular partner, riding in 8 of the horse's 18 races and winning once together, a win rate of 12%, or roughly 1 in every 8 rides. That is a workmanlike combination rather than a sparkling one, but it reflects the horse's character well: consistent enough to place, occasionally brilliant when everything falls right.

Those moments of brilliance have been well-timed. Rusheen's first career win came at Fairyhouse in January 2024, and then exactly a year and a day later — January 25th, 2026 — it won again, this time at Naas. Both wins coming in the depths of winter is no coincidence. That is when the ground is at its wettest, and that is when Rusheen is at its sharpest. The recent form figures show a 1 and a 3 tucked in among some quieter runs, which suggests the horse is still competitive and holding its form well into its eighth year. Crucially, it raced just one day ago, confirming this is a horse very much in the thick of things right now. When the rain comes and the ground cuts up, Rusheen is exactly the sort of horse a knowledgeable friend would quietly point out to you before the race.