Secret Magician

What the record does show is that Secret Magician is a competitor. Twelve placed finishes alongside those three wins means it has been in and around the action far more often than the bare win tally suggests. The horse got off the mark at The Curragh in August 2022, one of the most storied tracks in Ireland, and the most recent victory came at Naas in August 2024 — which is now 22 months ago and counting. The current run of six races without a win, including a third-place finish as the best of recent efforts, tells its own story about where things stand right now.

The numbers do offer some genuine encouragement in the right circumstances. On normal ground — not wet, not firm, just standard conditions — Secret Magician has won 3 of 19 races, a win rate of 16%, or roughly 1 in every 6. That is a meaningfully better record than its overall figures suggest, and it points to a horse that finds its best form when the ground cooperates. Similarly, over the shorter distances of five to six-and-a-half furlongs, it has won 2 from 17 races — again, 12%, or about 1 in 8. Put the right trip and the right ground together and the picture looks considerably brighter.

Wayne Hassett — who rides for the family yard — has been in the saddle for 22 of those 51 races and has two of the three wins to his name. That's a 9% win rate together, or roughly 1 in every 11 rides. The partnership knows each other well. Martin Hassett's yard has sent out 10 winners already this season, so there is form in the stable. Secret Magician raced just yesterday, which means it is firmly in training and the team clearly hasn't given up on adding a fourth win to the tally.