Gegenpressing

The overall record looks modest enough at first glance: 4 wins from 49 races, which works out at roughly 1 in every 12. That is a horse competing at a tough level, grinding it out week after week. But those four wins tell their own story. Three of them came at the same venue, and the most recent arrived as recently as May 2025 at Sligo, which means the track record is very much alive and very much relevant. Raced just yesterday, Gegenpressing is still firmly in training and still on the job.

The ground matters too. On wet or muddy surfaces, the record flips entirely: 2 wins from just 5 races, meaning Gegenpressing wins roughly 2 in every 5 times the ground is soft. That is a completely different horse to the one you see on a dry, fast surface. When the rain comes and the ground cuts up, this is a horse that suddenly becomes very interesting to follow.

The partnership with jockey Chris Hayes has been the constant thread through much of this career. In 27 races together they have found the winner's enclosure 4 times, a win rate of around 15% — or roughly 1 in every 7 rides. That is well above the horse's overall average, and suggests Hayes understands exactly how to get the best out of this particular animal. Their working relationship stretches back years and has produced every single one of those four career victories.

Trained by Eddie and Patrick Harty out of Curragh in Co Kildare — a yard that has sent out 17 winners already this season, so clearly in form — Gegenpressing has been a patient, long-term project. The first win came at Sligo back in August 2022. The most recent came at Sligo in May 2025. If there is a pattern here, it is not subtle. When this horse turns up at that tight, left-handed track in the west of Ireland with soft ground forecast and Hayes in the saddle, it is worth paying attention.