Ad Caelum

Trained by John Patrick Ryan out of Templemore in County Tipperary, Ad Caelum operates within a yard that has sent out 21 winners this season alone, so there is clearly no shortage of knowhow behind the horse. Ryan's record suggests he knows how to get a horse ready to run, and Ad Caelum has been kept busy across 31 races to prove it.

The most important variable in Ad Caelum's career turns out to be the ground underfoot. On normal conditions, this horse transforms: 3 wins from 12 races, a win rate of 25%, or roughly 1 in every 4 outings. That is a striking number. On any other type of ground, the wins dry up almost entirely. It's the kind of detail that a casual observer would miss completely but that explains a huge amount about when Ad Caelum is genuinely dangerous.

Sean O'Keeffe has been the regular partner in the saddle, riding Ad Caelum in 10 of its races and winning 2 of them — a 20% win rate, or 1 in every 5 rides together. That's a meaningful partnership by any measure, and it's worth noting whenever O'Keeffe's name appears in the racecard alongside this horse.

Recent form tells a different story, however. The last six races have produced a sequence of fifth, fifth, fifth, fourth, third and then a blank — no win and nothing better than third. That run stretches back far enough that the last victory, at Ballinrobe in August 2025, now feels a while ago. Ad Caelum raced just one day ago, which means the horse is fit and active — the wins just aren't coming right now. Whether the ground hasn't been cooperating or the competition has simply stepped up, the task for Ryan and O'Keeffe is to find the right conditions to unlock what this horse has already shown it can do.