Summer Snow

The headline number is a 17% win rate, or roughly 1 in every 6 races — but the more striking figure is what happens at a specific distance. Over 7 furlongs to a mile, Summer Snow has won 5 of just 12 races. That is 42%, which means nearly every other time the horse lines up at its favoured trip, it wins. Most horses never find that kind of groove. When the ground is normal or soft, the record stays consistently strong: 4 wins from 12 on standard ground and 2 from 6 on wet or muddy ground, both at exactly 33%. This is a horse that does not need conditions to be perfectly arranged — it simply performs when the basics are right.

Gowran Park has been a particularly happy hunting ground, with 2 wins from 6 races there. Over time, a horse that keeps returning to a track and winning there earns a certain status — it becomes something the market watches and the locals know about. Colin Keane, one of the sharper jockeys around, has ridden Summer Snow seven times and won twice, a rate of 1 in every 3.5 rides together, which tells you there is enough mutual understanding to keep the partnership going.

The recent form makes for interesting reading. Two wins from the last 6 races, including a victory at Galway in July 2025, suggests the horse is still very much at the top of its game at six years old. The two most recent runs have been quieter — finishing unplaced and eleventh — but given that Summer Snow raced just yesterday and is still active, Lawlor's yard clearly sees more chapters still to be written. With 6 winners already sent out this season from Donard, the operation is in form, and a horse with Summer Snow's record at its best distances is never far away from adding another one to the tally.