Shoot First

The recent form is frustrating. Shoot First has run six times since that Haydock triumph and has not won once — though it did finish fourth on its most recent outing 88 days ago after a brief break. In that small sample, the horse managed just one top-3 finish. At Class 1 level, where Shoot First has competed four times, it has won once and finished out of the money three times, a 25 per cent win rate that shows it belongs in these races but struggles to produce consistently. Trainer C Byrnes, based at Ballingarry in County Limerick, oversees a yard that has sent out 26 winners this season, so there is form in the stable. Philip Byrnes has been Shoot First's regular jockey, though their partnership has yielded just one win from nine races together.

Shoot First carries the pedigree of a horse that can win — it has done so at top level and proved itself across different tracks — but 16 months without a victory at this stage of its career suggests the spark may be fading. Age and a thin vein of recent form are working against it, though that Class 1 win at Haydock proved the horse is not finished yet.