Ballybrittas

The recent form makes for difficult reading. In the last six races, Ballybrittas has finished 4th, 7th, 10th, 9th, 2nd, and 2nd — a sequence that shows some early promise in those back-to-back runner-up finishes, but a horse that has since drifted further back in the field. Finishing 10th and 9th are not the kind of results that suggest things are trending in the right direction, and without a win in 18 months, questions about whether that Limerick success was a one-off are fair to ask.

The trainer is P J Rothwell, based in Tinahely in County Wicklow, and the yard is clearly in good health this season — 36 winners sent out is a solid, productive total that shows Rothwell knows how to get a horse ready to win. The challenge now is finding the right opportunity to get Ballybrittas back into that position. The horse did race just one day ago, so it is clearly fit and active, and Rothwell is not giving up on it.

Whether Ballybrittas can add to that single career win is the open question. The talent to place has been there — three times in nine races it has finished in the first three — but converting that into a win has proved elusive. For a horse now in its seventh year, time is not unlimited, but in Rothwell's capable hands, another good day is not out of the question.