Inchiquin Maid

The seven-year-old is trained by Terence O'Brien out of Carrigtoohill in County Cork, a yard that has sent out 10 winners this season and clearly knows how to place a horse. O'Brien has found the formula with this one: keep her at Dundalk, give her a trip of two miles or more, and make sure the ground is riding normally rather than soft or firm. On those specific conditions, she wins 2 from 13 races — 15% — which is a perfectly respectable return at this level. It is a narrow window, but when everything lines up, she delivers.

Her most recent win came at Dundalk on 11 February 2026, just five months ago, and she raced again just yesterday, so she is very much an active part of the team's plans. Her last six results read 3-2-5-10-1-11 in reverse order, which tells the story of a horse that swings between finishing close and finishing well beaten — two places and a win mixed in with some disappointments. Jockey Conor Stone-Walsh has ridden her five times without a win between them, though the partnership is clearly ongoing.

Inchiquin Maid will never trouble the top races in Britain or Ireland. But there is something genuinely satisfying about a horse that has found her one true home and keeps going back to win there. She knows Dundalk, she knows a distance that suits her, and at seven years old with a trainer who understands her, she may not be done adding to that tally yet.