Secret Magician

The career started promisingly enough, with a first win at The Curragh in August 2022 — one of Ireland's most prestigious tracks, so not a bad place to open your account. The most recent win came at Naas in August 2024, which means Secret Magician has now gone 24 months and at least six straight races without visiting the winner's enclosure. The recent form reads 5th, pulled up, 7th, 10th, 3rd, 10th — a mixed picture, though that third place suggests there are still moments when it fires.

Where Secret Magician looks most at home is on normal ground conditions, winning 3 of 22 races in those circumstances — that is 14%, or roughly 1 in every 7 outings. That is a meaningfully better return than its overall record suggests, and it points to a horse that genuinely needs conditions in its favour. Distances between five and six-and-a-half furlongs also suit it best, with 2 wins from 17 races at those trips — about 1 in every 8 or 9 runs. Short, sharp races on good ground: that is when Secret Magician is at its most dangerous.

Wayne Hassett, who shares a surname with the trainer, has been the regular partner, riding 22 of those 55 races together and winning twice — a win rate of 9%, or roughly 1 in 11. The Hassett yard has been in decent form this season, sending out 10 winners, so the operation is ticking over. Secret Magician raced just one day ago, meaning this is very much an active campaign. Whether another win is around the corner after a two-year drought is the question — but with the right ground and a sharp distance, this horse has shown before that it knows how to find the line first.