Carrigans Grove

Trained by Patrick J Flynn out of Carrick-On-Suir in County Waterford, the five-year-old opened its account at Dundalk in April 2025 — the all-weather track under the floodlights that gives plenty of horses their first taste of success. Flynn's yard has been in decent nick this season, sending out 11 winners, so Carrigans Grove is part of a functioning, active operation rather than a one-horse stable hoping for a miracle.

The most recent win came at The Curragh on 30 August 2025, which is the sort of result worth underlining. The Curragh is Ireland's premier flat racing venue — a wide, sweeping expanse of Kildare grassland where the best horses in the country race. Winning there means Carrigans Grove is not simply picking up easy opportunities at smaller tracks; it has beaten decent company on the biggest domestic stage available.

Robyn Donaghue-Leahy has partnered the horse most often, riding it in 7 of its 16 races and winning once — a win rate of around 1 in 7 together, or roughly 14%. That is a modest return, but the pair have clearly built up a working relationship, and jockey-horse partnerships that stick tend to do so for a reason.

The recent form makes for interesting reading. Stripping back the last six runs — a fall or pulled-up run, then a tenth, a win, two seconds, and a third — you have a horse that was finishing on the podium consistently before a rough patch crept in. It raced just yesterday, so whatever happened in that most recent outing, Carrigans Grove is very much an active, current story. Whether the winning thread can be picked back up is the open question, but a horse with three wins across two different tracks and a habit of running into a place has earned the right to be taken seriously.