Andyourbirdcansing

That one win came at Sligo in June 2024, and it remains the only time this horse has reached the top step. What makes the current situation interesting is the gap that has opened up since then — 22 months without a win, and now a break of roughly five months before returning to action. Long absences can go either way. Some horses come back sharper and freshened up; others need a run or two before they find their rhythm. The recent form figures of 11-5-4-4 before the break suggest a horse that was struggling to land a blow, finishing well down the field in its last completed run before the layoff.

John Patrick Ryan's yard in Templemore, Co Tipperary, has been in decent shape this season — 23 winners is a healthy total and suggests the operation knows what it is doing. The most regular partner in the saddle has been Shane Fitzgerald, who has ridden this horse in 7 of its races and won once aboard it. That converts to a win rate of 14%, or 1 win from every 7 rides — which actually looks considerably better than the horse's overall record and suggests the partnership, when it has clicked, has been the right one.

The honest summary is that Andyourbirdcansing is a horse that has shown enough to keep the yard interested but not quite enough to reward them consistently. Returning from a five-month break, with a single career win on the board and that win now nearly two years in the rear-view mirror, the task for Ryan and Fitzgerald is to find the right conditions to coax another moment like Sligo out of a horse that clearly has it in it — somewhere.