Trustyourinstinct

The Curragh is where Trustyourinstinct truly comes alive. Three wins from seven visits to Ireland's most famous flat track, including a victory as recently as June 2025, tells its own story. The trainer Joseph Patrick O'Brien, who operates one of Ireland's most productive yards from Owning Hill in Co Kilkenny — 154 winners in the current season alone — described the horse after that win as someone you can "set your clock by". That is trainer shorthand for a horse that never gives less than its best, whatever the company. The same performance drew comment on how the horse showed a genuine turn of foot, not just grinding out results but quickening up impressively when it mattered.

Ground conditions matter enormously in horse racing, and Trustyourinstinct has a clear preference: normal ground. On a standard surface the record reads five wins from eight races, a 62 per cent conversion rate that is almost absurdly good. The horse also tends to shine at distances of around a mile and a quarter, winning 2 of its 3 races at that trip. These are the conditions to look for when deciding whether a run is worth watching.

The most consistent partner in the saddle has been Declan McDonogh, who has ridden the horse to 3 wins from 7 outings together. That 43 per cent win rate between horse and rider is a combination worth noting. On the bigger stage, O'Brien has spoken of a Group 3 win at Leopardstown and a near miss in a Group 2 in Italy, confirming this is a horse that has already competed at some of the highest levels in European racing. The recent form of two wins and a third from the last six races, before a couple of below-par efforts, suggests the horse is cycling through form as older horses often do — and that another good run may not be far away.