The Blue Panther

Trained by R P Burns out of Collinstown in Co Westmeath — a yard that has already sent out 5 winners this season — The Blue Panther has been a steady if unspectacular earner across its career, placing on 5 further occasions and showing enough consistency to keep the yard coming back. The sweet spot is clearly a distance of a mile and one to a mile and two furlongs, where the horse has won 2 of 11 races at an 18% win rate, roughly 1 in every 6. That is nearly double its overall average, and it tells you something important: stretch the race out to that middle distance and The Blue Panther starts to become competitive in a way it simply is not over shorter trips.

Regular jockey Gary Carroll has been in the saddle for 8 of the horse's races, winning once together — about 1 in every 8 rides — which is modest but reflects the broader picture of a horse that places more often than it wins. The recent form makes for interesting reading: starting from the most recent race, it reads 13-15-5-4-1-4. That solitary 1 — a win at Listowel in September 2025, eight months ago — sits in the sequence like a reminder of what this horse is capable of when the conditions align. Since then, it has been working its way back into contention, finishing fourth, fifth, and creeping closer. With a race just yesterday, The Blue Panther is clearly fit and active, and if the calendar brings another trip to Listowel, it would be unwise to look the other way.