Punchestown

A 7-year-old making her very first racecourse appearance is genuinely unusual — most horses are racing regularly by the time they're four — and there is no public form whatsoever to judge her on. What does stand out is the team around her: Willie Mullins and Paul Townend, the most successful trainer-jockey combination in Irish racing, win roughly 1 in every 3 races they run together, and that explains why she's a well-backed second favourite at under 5/1 despite having never raced.

Rated 2lbs above the field average and with a career record of one win and two places from just four races, Salsinha has shown more substance than most of these rivals despite her limited experience. Her jockey Darragh O'Keeffe is the form jockey in this race — four wins from his last ten rides — and trainer Henry De Bromhead is also in decent recent form, making this a live contender at 3.7.

Seven years old with just one win from 11 races, and her recent form makes grim reading — 16th at Leopardstown last time out, beaten nearly 22 lengths. She does have her best record on normal ground, which at least ticks one box today, but this track has been unkind to her, with zero wins from five attempts here at Punchestown.

The most experienced horse in the field by some distance — 18 races compared to a field average of just 6 — but that experience hasn't translated into results recently, with finishes of 17th, 6th, and 11th in her last three outings. She's been off the track for over six months and hasn't won on soft or wet ground in four attempts, though she does handle normal conditions reasonably well.