Tarlac

Tarlac arrived at Scott's Galashiels base as a castoff from a much bigger operation — previously with top trainer Kevin Ryan and owned by Sheikh Obaid, the kind of ownership group that runs horses at the highest levels of the sport. Horses that pass through those yards and end up elsewhere often carry a reason, and in Tarlac's case it seems he simply needed time and patience. When he first came to Scott's yard, he was, in her words, racing "the wrong way round a little bit" — meaning he hadn't yet figured out how to settle and produce his best when it mattered.

Slowly, though, the picture improved. A placed effort at Hamilton was followed by his first career win at Ripon in late May 2025, which remains his only victory to date. His last six runs — finishing sixth, seventh, sixth, fifth, eighth, and seventh — look flat on the surface, and there's no point pretending otherwise. But Scott is quick to point to his most recent outing at Ayr, where wet, heavy ground was cited as the likely culprit. Some horses simply don't handle soft, sticky conditions, and if Tarlac is genuinely one of them, that last run tells you less than it seems.

What Scott says about him for the rest of the season is the bit worth paying attention to. She describes him as "a really nice horse" and is openly excited about what the autumn months might bring. A yard that has already sent out 17 winners this season — a genuinely productive campaign for a regional trainer — isn't short of confidence, and Scott doesn't sound like someone papering over cracks. Tarlac is four years old, still relatively unexperienced for his age, and reportedly still finding his feet as a racehorse. If the ground dries out and the penny drops, the Ripon win might start to look like the beginning of something rather than an isolated bright spot.