The Shunter

The more interesting detail is what those two wins look like. The first came at Sligo in May 2022, but the second — and more significant — was a Class 2 victory at Newmarket in October 2023. Class 2 means one of the better races in Britain, the kind where you're lining up against genuinely good horses. Winning one of those is not a fluke. When The Shunter has been entered at that level, it has won 1 from 3, which works out at around 33% — a seriously impressive return at the top end of the sport.

The problem is that was 30 months ago, and the recent form makes for difficult reading. In the last six races, the best finish is a third place, with a couple of runs that barely troubled the scorers. That kind of dip in form at age 12 is not unusual — older horses can be harder to keep fresh and motivated — but it does raise the question of whether that Newmarket win was a final flourish or simply the last chapter in a longer story that still has a page or two left.

The Shunter is trained by Emmet Mullins, based in Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow. Mullins has sent out 31 winners already this season, so this is clearly a yard that knows how to get horses ready to perform. The fact that The Shunter is now returning from a break of around four months is perhaps the most intriguing part of the picture. Trainers don't give horses a long rest and bring them back without a reason — whether that's to freshen them up mentally, let a niggle heal, or simply reset ahead of a specific target. The question on raceday is whether the time off has done what the team was hoping.