Fort Vega

The partnership with jockey Robbie Colgan offers a glimmer of brighter form. Colgan has ridden Fort Vega six times and won twice — a 33% win rate that is significantly better than the horse's overall record. This kind of improvement with one rider sometimes hints that a particular partnership just works, the sort of detail that might matter if Fort Vega's yard ever manages to get the horse back into the winner's circle. The trainer, Ms Sheila Lavery, runs a relatively modest operation from Summerhill in Co. Meath and has sent out just three winners all season, which puts Fort Vega's lack of recent success into perspective — wins have been hard to come by across the entire yard.

Fort Vega broke through first at Gowran Park on 3 May 2023 and earned its first win at Cork just over two years later. That long journey between victories says much about this horse's standing: it is capable of winning, but the stretches of racing without success tend to be long and frustrating. The horse was last raced just a day ago, so it remains an active part of the yard's plans. Whether Fort Vega can rediscover winning form after sixteen months away from the winner's enclosure is the only real question that matters now.