Inis Oirr

Across a career of 31 races, the nine-year-old has won 3 times and placed on 12 other occasions — a win rate of around 1 in every 10 races, which sounds modest until you consider that both Musselburgh victories came in Class 2 company, meaning he was beating horses near the top end of the British racing pyramid. That is where this horse has genuinely delivered when it has mattered. His struggles come at Class 3 level, where he has run 11 times without winning — which is a strange inversion of what you might expect, but racing does not always follow logic.

Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore train him out of their yard in Milnathort, a team that has sent out 49 winners already this season and clearly knows how to place a horse well. Russell has spoken about a tactical switch that worked at Carlisle — pulling Inis Oirr back from his usual front-running role, giving him a breather rather than letting him get bullied on the lead — and the horse has responded. His recent form backs that up: his last six runs read 5th, 9th, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, with the most recent result being a third-place finish just a day ago. He is clearly in good nick right now.

Derek Fox has been in the saddle for 21 of his 31 races, winning twice together — a partnership built on familiarity, which matters when you are dealing with a horse whose quirks you need to understand. Russell has floated the idea of targeting the Edinburgh National, which would take Inis Oirr back to Musselburgh and back to right-handed racing, where he is clearly most at home. If that plan comes together, this is precisely the kind of horse the race is made for — experienced, course-proven, and apparently finding a second wind at nine years old.