Clear Quartz

The most striking detail in Clear Quartz's profile is what happens at Galway. Three wins from 11 races there — that's 27%, or more than 1 in every 4 — which is a remarkable return at a track that has hosted some of the most competitive racing in Ireland. When a horse keeps performing at the same venue, it usually means something: the configuration of the course, the way the ground drains, the cambers and bends all suit the way this horse moves. Galway is not a place where ordinary horses thrive. Clear Quartz clearly does.

Add in a preference for wet or muddy ground — two wins from just five races in those conditions, a hit rate of 40%, or 2 in every 5 — and a sweet spot at distances between a mile and a furlong and a mile and two furlongs, where four of those five wins have come, and you get a horse with a clear identity. It is not a horse for every occasion, but put it on soft ground at the right distance and it becomes genuinely competitive.

Jockey Ronan Whelan has ridden Clear Quartz six times and won twice — that is 1 in every 3 rides together, which is a strong partnership by any measure. The trainer, Mark Fahey, operates out of Cloneygath in County Kildare and has had 24 winners this season alone, suggesting a yard in good form. Clear Quartz last won at Roscommon in September 2025, and raced just one day ago, so this is very much an active campaign.

The recent form — a win, then a third, then an eighth, a second and a blank — is the kind of mixed picture you'd expect from a nine-year-old campaigned regularly. But five wins, 13 places, and a course record at Galway that most younger horses would envy? Clear Quartz has earned its place on any racecard.