Jouster

His two wins arrived within three weeks of each other in late 2024: first at Tramore on 26 November, then at Fairyhouse on 14 December. That was twenty months ago, a long drought that explains why he remains such a modest competitor. Since then, only two places in twelve races—a stark contrast to that brief purple patch. Yet yesterday's ninth-place finish shows he is still racing, still being given opportunities, which means his trainer Paul W Flynn, based in County Longford, has not given up on him.

Flynn's yard is in decent form, with 22 winners sent out this season, so Jouster is not being neglected in an unsuccessful operation. The partnership with jockey Keith Donoghue has been modest—one win from seven races together—but that solitary success came at the kind of odds that matters in this game. For a horse capable of winning roughly 1 in 11 times, and an aging competitor now seven years old, Jouster represents the sort of journeyman racer that keeps yards ticking over: reliable enough to keep running, but never quite good enough to deliver the kind of consistent returns his the yard might have hoped for when he first started.