Tiriac

Newcastle is clearly Tiriac's happy place. Two wins from just four visits to that track is a remarkable return — that is a 50% win rate at a single venue, for a horse that wins less than 15% of its races overall. Racetracks have their own quirks of shape, surface, and gradient, and some horses simply suit one place far better than others. Tiriac appears to be one of them. The most recent of those Newcastle wins came in December 2025, so it is not ancient history.

The ground matters too. On very wet, muddy ground Tiriac has won 2 from 5 races — 40% — which is a striking number. On normal conditions it has won 2 from 4, so 50%. Put it this way: when the track is either properly standard or properly soft underfoot, this horse performs like a different animal. Avoid it on fast, dry ground and you have a much sharper picture of when Tiriac is worth watching.

Paul Midgley trains the horse from his yard in Westow, North Yorkshire, and it has been a productive season for the team — 39 winners already this campaign. Barry McHugh is the regular partner in the saddle, and together they have clicked: 2 wins from 7 races, which is just under 1 in every 3 — well above the horse's overall average. That kind of chemistry between jockey and horse matters more than people outside the sport might expect.

Tiriac raced just one day ago, so it is very much in active training right now. The recent form — finishing 17th, 8th, 7th, and 9th across its last four runs — is modest, but that single win buried in the sequence, and the third-place finish before it, suggest the ability is still there. A horse that wins half its races at Newcastle deserves watching the next time Midgley points it in that direction, particularly if the forecast looks wet.