The context matters here. Mullins has pointed out that Selma De Vary missed a significant chunk of time before her recent run at Leopardstown, so she was essentially coming back cold. Even so, she ran well enough to excite her — she jumped the second-last fence in a way that caught her eye, a bold, fluent leap that suggested a horse who knows what she's doing. She then got tired approaching the last and faded slightly, which is exactly what you'd expect from a horse short of race fitness. Mullins called her "a little green" at the finish and added that she has a big future. She's not a man who says that about horses she isn't genuinely taken with.
There's also a win already on her CV — she landed a race in France before arriving in Ireland, so she's not a horse still searching for that first breakthrough. She knows how to win. The Triumph Hurdle, one of the top races at the Cheltenham Festival, has apparently been mentioned as a potential target, which tells you exactly what level the yard thinks she's operating at. Horses don't get entered in races like that without real belief behind them. Still racing — she ran just a day ago — Selma De Vary looks like a horse whose
| Course | Races | Results | Last run | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheltenham Galloping |
1 | 1 other | 13 Mar | 0% |
| Aintree Galloping |
1 | 1 second | 9 Apr | 0% |
| Leopardstown Galloping |
1 | 1 second | 2 Feb | 0% |