Nastya

That recent sequence — win, pulled up, win, second, fifth, win — is the kind of form that rewards attention. The blip in the middle, the pulled up run and the fifth, might have looked like a wobble at the time, but Nastya bounced back sharply both times. That ability to reset and return to winning ways is genuinely useful, and the Limerick victory this week confirms there is no sign of the fire going out.

Behind the horse is Henry De Bromhead's yard in Knockeen, Co Waterford — one of the leading operations in Irish jump racing. This season alone the team has sent out 107 winners, which means they know what they are doing with horses in form and what to do with horses who are not. When a yard of that calibre keeps running a horse, keeps placing it in races it can win, it tells you something: they believe in it.

On ground conditions, the picture is clear. On normal ground, Nastya wins 2 from 4 races — a 50% win rate that is extraordinary when you consider most professional racehorses win roughly 1 in every 10 races across a career. When conditions shift away from normal, the numbers drop off. That is not a flaw so much as a preference, and it is the kind of preference a smart team can work with by picking their spots carefully. It looks very much like they are doing exactly that. Nastya's first career win came at Down Royal in April 2025, and just over a year later the horse is still winning — more often, and more confidently, than ever.