Gowran Park

The only horse in the field that has already won at Gowran Park, which makes it stand out in a field where course experience matters. However, its record on soft or wet ground is a concern — zero wins from three attempts on similar conditions — and it finished 8th just nine days ago, which isn't the most encouraging prep run. The editorial verdict puts it second best on ratings, which gives it a real chance if the course form counts for anything.

The most experienced horse in this field with 51 races under its belt, but experience hasn't always translated to results — it wins roughly 1 in every 8 races overall. The big red flag here is today's conditions: it has run on wet or muddy ground three times before and has never won. Its best work has come at Dundalk, a completely different track, which makes this assignment a tricky one.

An interesting wildcard — it has never raced on slightly soft ground before, so today is completely uncharted territory. On the positive side, its one ground type that comes closest, soft ground, has produced a win, suggesting it might handle wet conditions reasonably well. Drawn in stall 7, it sits in the middle draw range where this course historically produces only half the winners that low draws do.

Nine races into its career with no wins and just two places, Salacious hasn't yet managed to put a complete performance together. It showed some promise finishing 4th at the Curragh recently, just under 2 lengths off the winner, but the jockey and trainer combination has only produced 1 win from 30 races together — so the support team's record here is modest at best. Hard to make a strong case for it against the better-rated horses in this field.