Starting Monday

What makes the story more interesting is that the one breakthrough finally came at Gowran Park in April 2026, and at the age of nine, that is no small thing. Most horses are either hitting their peak or winding down by this stage, so a first career win this late in the game is the kind of detail that sticks with you. It suggests a horse that has always had something to offer, even if it took a long time for everything to fall into place on the right day.

The recent form is genuinely encouraging. Reading from most recent back, the last six races show a second place, a run that did not complete, a first place, then an eighteenth, a fourth, and a thirteenth. Strip out the blip at eighteenth and the non-completion, and you are looking at a horse that has placed in three of its last four completed races — including that win. For a horse with Starting Monday's overall record, that represents a real upturn in form.

The one relationship worth flagging is with jockey W J Lee, who has partnered this horse in 15 of its 33 races without a win between them — 0 wins from 15 attempts together. That is not necessarily anyone's fault, but it is a notable number. The win at Gowran Park may well have come with a different rider in the saddle. Trainer Gillian Scott, based in Ballingarry, Limerick, has sent out three winners this season, so the yard is ticking along. With Starting Monday raced as recently as yesterday and showing its best form of late, it is clearly being kept busy while confidence is high — which, given how long that first win took to arrive, seems entirely the right call.