Mount Frisco

Both of those wins came in a short window in early 2024, first at Tramore on New Year's Day and then at Limerick on the 30th of January. That is now 26 months without a win, and the last six runs — two third places, a fourth, a sixth, another sixth, and one blank — confirm the pattern. Close enough to be interesting, not quite close enough to win. It is the kind of form that keeps you watching but tests your patience.

What does make Mount Frisco genuinely interesting is how it performs on very wet, muddy ground. In those conditions, it has won 2 of its 11 races — roughly 1 in every 5, which is a dramatically better record than it manages overall. In a sport where ground conditions can completely transform a horse, that is a meaningful edge. When the forecast turns grim and the track cuts up, this is a horse worth paying attention to.

Regular jockey Daniel King has ridden it 15 times together without a win, which is a long wait for both of them, though the placing record suggests they have come close. Trainer John Patrick Ryan, based in Templemore in County Tipperary, is having a productive season — 22 winners sent out already — and clearly keeps Mount Frisco in good enough shape to race consistently, with a run just one day ago. The yard knows what they have here: not a horse to build dreams around, but one that is fit, willing, and at its best when the rain has done its work on the ground.