Riyami

Denis Gerard Hogan trains Riyami out of Cloughjordan in County Tipperary, and it's been a productive yard this season with 56 winners sent out. Hogan clearly knows how to place a horse, and getting the best out of Riyami means pointing him squarely at Dundalk. When jockey J M Sheridan takes the ride, the combination has clicked particularly well — 2 wins from 9 races together works out to roughly 1 in every 4, a noticeably better rate than Riyami manages with other riders.

The horse also has a clear preference for a proper test of stamina. Over long distances — two miles and beyond — Riyami has won 4 times from 18 races, which is 1 in every 4.5 attempts at those trips. That's a genuinely strong return at that range, and it suggests a horse that settles into a rhythm and keeps finding more at the end of a race rather than burning bright and fading. Add in the fact that all four wins have come on normal ground conditions, going 4 from 11 in those circumstances, and you have a horse with a very specific comfort zone: Dundalk, a long trip, decent ground underfoot.

Recent form has been mixed — a win at Dundalk back in March sandwiched between some quieter efforts, including an eighth and a seventh in the two runs since. But Riyami raced just yesterday, so the team is clearly keeping him busy and hunting the right opportunity. For a horse who has earned every single one of his career wins at the same venue, the question is simply whether Hogan lines him up there again — because when he does, Riyami has a habit of making it count.