Shanbally Kid

The pattern is clear in the data. Shanbally Kid wins roughly 1 in every 8 races overall, but on soft ground — the kind of wet, muddy conditions many racehorses despise — he wins nearly 1 in every 3 times he runs. When Danny Mullins partnered him at Punchestown, he steered the horse wide, kept him away from other runners, and let him dictate his own rhythm over three miles and seven furlongs. It worked. The horse prefers his own company; crowded races upset him, and that solitary approach brought out his best. Elliott, based at Longwood in County Meath, sees genuine potential now that Shanbally Kid's jumping has tightened up. The staying handicap chases are the target, and Elliott has even suggested he could develop into a National horse down the line — the kind of horse made for the gruelling, open-ground tests those big races demand.

Recent form tells a harder story: Shanbally Kid hasn't won in his last six races, and he is noticeably out of his depth in top-class company, losing all three starts at the highest level. But he is active and racing regularly, and at nine years old he is entering what should be his prime years as a chaser. On the ground he loves, with space to breathe, and over the kind of long, patient races where persistence pays off, there is still a horse here worth watching.