Leinster

The numbers that stand out most are his record at The Curragh, Ireland's most prestigious flat track. He has won two of his four races there, and O'Brien has already identified a Listed race — one of the better-quality races in the calendar — on Guineas weekend as a potential target. That confidence is not unfounded. When the ground is normal, Leinster wins half his races: two from four. And when the trip stretches out to between a mile and six furlongs and two miles, the same pattern holds. He is a horse that needs time and space to show what he can do, and he keeps telling you that when he gets both, he delivers.

His partnership with jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle is one of the most striking details in his profile. Together they have won three of their five races — a 60% win rate, which is genuinely extraordinary. Browne McMonagle's own words after Leinster's last win at The Curragh in August 2025 give a vivid picture of what it's like aboard him: the pace was slow, the horse was keen, and the jockey had to spend the whole race persuading him to settle rather than burn his energy too early. That he won despite all of that says something.

O'Brien has hinted that a setback cost Leinster most of last season after a promising run at Roscommon, and that the trainer has always felt the horse's best distance is still to come — that Roscommon looked too short. With an entry in the Chester Cup already in the diary and a Curragh target being considered, the plan for 2026 is clearly to aim him at the races that suit him best and let him prove what he can do over a proper test of stamina. Given everything so far, it would be unwise to bet against him.