Ballylicky Bay

That one win came at Bangor-on-Dee in June 2025, and it remains the defining moment of the career so far. Bangor-on-Dee is a tight, twisting little track in North Wales — not a place where horses coast to victory on raw talent alone. Winning there takes a bit of racecraft, so it is worth something. The trouble is it happened eleven months ago, and the six races since have produced two third-place finishes but no return to the winner's enclosure. The recent form reads 3-5-5-5-8-3, which tells a story of a horse that occasionally threatens but has not quite been able to close the deal.

Paul O'Brien has been in the saddle for six of those seven career races and is clearly the regular partner here. Together they have that one win from six attempts — wins roughly 1 in every 6 rides together — which mirrors the overall picture. There is a familiarity between horse and jockey that could count for something when the right race comes along.

Trainer Kevin Pickard has sent out 2 winners this season from what is clearly a smaller yard, and Ballylicky Bay races most often at Class 4 level — the kind of mid-tier company where competitive horses can find races that suit them. Notably, at that level the record reads 1 win from 3 races, which means winning 1 in every 3 attempts in the right grade. That is actually a decent conversion rate and suggests the horse is competitive when the conditions line up. With a race just yesterday, Ballylicky Bay is clearly being kept busy, and Kevin Pickard will be hoping that the next right race is just around the corner.