Trustyourinstinct

The horse's record on wet or muddy ground is about as good as it gets: 3 wins from 3 races, a perfect 100%. Many horses are inconsistent when the rain comes; this one actually improves. Combine that with a distance of roughly a mile to a mile and a quarter — where he has won 3 from 4 — and you have a horse with a very specific sweet spot. When those conditions line up, his opponents are in trouble.

Nowhere is that clearer than at Gowran Park, a tight, undulating track in Co Kilkenny where Trustyourinstinct has an unblemished record: 3 wins from 3 races. He won there again just two weeks ago, on 12 June 2026. To win every single time you visit a track over a racing career is almost unheard of — it suggests the place genuinely suits how he moves and how he races.

His most regular partner in the saddle has been Declan McDonogh, who has ridden him 8 times and won 3 of them — a win rate of 38%, which is strong at this level. His recent form reads 2-1-2-7-6-7, meaning after a couple of quieter runs he has snapped back into form sharply, finishing second and then winning. O'Brien has mentioned a Group 3 victory at Leopardstown over a mile and a half, and being narrowly beaten in a Group 2 in Italy — which tells you this horse competes in some of the best races in Europe. He raced just yesterday, so there is clearly no shortage of enthusiasm from the yard to keep running him.

A home-bred owned by JP McManus and his wife Noreen, Trustyourinstinct is exactly the kind of horse that makes racing enjoyable to follow: dependable, versatile enough to step up in class, and with a course record at Gowran that borders on the absurd.