Shuffle The Deck

The five-year-old is trained by T M Walsh at Kill in County Kildare, a yard that has sent out 7 winners already this season and clearly knows what it's doing. Mark Walsh is the regular partner in the saddle, though the pair have only managed 1 win from 5 races together — a rate of roughly 1 in 5 — suggesting the horse is capable of more than that combination has so far produced. The recent form reads 3-4-1-–-1-3, and those back-to-back wins dotted through the sequence show a horse that fires when conditions are right.

What gives today's outing some extra intrigue is the gap since it last ran. Shuffle The Deck hasn't raced for 91 days — about three months — so there will be questions about sharpness on return. That last win at Naas came in April 2025, and the first career victory arrived in December 2024, so the horse has been improving across a fairly compact timeframe. A yard with winners on the board this season is unlikely to bring a horse back before it's ready, which is at least a reason for quiet optimism. If the track today suits anything like Naas does, Shuffle The Deck is worth watching closely.