Imarajan

The recent form makes for interesting reading. Looking at the last six races — finishing fourth, third, seventh, fifth, fourth, and second — there is clearly ability here, particularly that runner-up finish which suggests Imarajan has been genuinely competitive at least once in recent memory. The seventh-place run stands out as the one blip, but otherwise this is a horse that tends to find itself in and around the action rather than trailing the field. Whether it can convert that consistency into an actual win is the big question hanging over every race it enters.

Ronan Whelan has been the regular partner, riding Imarajan in six of those races together without a win to show for it. That is not unusual at this level — plenty of good combinations take time to click — but it does mean they are still waiting for the partnership to produce its best result. Whelan will know this horse well by now, which could count for something when the right opportunity arrives.

The yard behind Imarajan is that of Eoin Doyle, operating out of Mooncoin in County Kilkenny, and it has been a modest season so far with two winners sent out. Imarajan raced just one day ago, which shows the team are keeping it busy and actively looking for its moment. Sometimes a horse that has placed this many times without winning just needs one race to fall perfectly in its favour — the right conditions, the right field, the right day. Imarajan has not found that day yet, but it keeps turning up and giving itself the chance.