Walking On Glass

The first win came at Ballinrobe in September 2022, and the most recent at Bellewstown in August 2024 — twenty months ago now, which is a long dry spell by any measure. The last six runs paint a familiar picture: a couple of non-completions, a ninth, a sixth, a fourth. Close enough to keep hope alive, not close enough to convert. That fourth place is the most tantalising — horses finishing fourth have the worst of all worlds, near the prize money but not in it.

What does give Walking On Glass a genuine edge is the ground. On wet or muddy conditions, this horse has won 2 of 15 races — that's roughly 1 in every 7, which is meaningfully better than its overall record of 1 in 12. When the rain comes and the ground gets soft, this is a horse worth paying attention to. Ireland being Ireland, those conditions arrive often enough to matter.

Jockey Aidan Kelly has the clearest picture of what this horse can do, partnering it in 15 of those 37 races and riding both its wins together — a win rate of 13%, or roughly 1 in 8. That's a meaningful partnership built on familiarity, and when Kelly is in the saddle on soft ground, the combination is as strong as it gets for this horse.

Trainer Padraig Roche operates out of Coolaghknock Glebe in Co Kildare, and the yard has sent out 7 winners already this season — a sign of a stable in decent form. Walking On Glass raced just one day ago and is very much an active runner. At 11, it won't be getting faster, but it clearly still wants to race. For an owner, that matters. The question now is simply whether the right day — soft ground, the right track, Aidan Kelly aboard — comes along one more time.