Ramillies

Both wins came in a concentrated burst: Punchestown in February 2022, then Thurles in December the same year. That Thurles win, now 42 months ago, remains the most recent. The trainer at the time, Willie Mullins, was fairly specific about what it needed to perform — decent ground rather than heavy winter mud, and racing over fences rather than hurdles. The reasoning was almost affectionate: Ramillies, he said, had never shown much respect for hurdles. Put a proper fence in front of it, give it reasonable ground to run on, and suddenly you had a different horse. Mullins also made the point that the horse had always worked well at home — it just needed everything to align on the day.

Since then, six races without a win, and recent form showing a pair of second-place finishes among the blanks. It is not disgracing itself — two second places in its last six runs suggests it is still competitive — but the winning habit has been hard to recapture. Ramillies is now trained by D M Christie, based in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, a small yard that has sent out just one winner this season. That is a different world from the Mullins operation, and it makes any future win a genuine underdog story.

What keeps Ramillies interesting is the consistency of the conditions it has needed throughout its career. The horse has essentially been telling anyone watching exactly what it requires — dry ground, a stiff fence, a track with room to stretch out. When those boxes have been ticked, it has delivered. At eleven, with racing still clearly in its legs, the question is whether the yard can find one more day when everything lines up just right.