West Away

Both career wins are worth noting for what they reveal. The first came at Cork in December 2023, and the second at Roscommon in June 2024 — six months apart, on two very different tracks, which at least shows some versatility. But that Roscommon win is now 22 months in the rear-view mirror, and the last six races have brought nothing better than a second place, with two runs that were pulled up or didn't finish. The recent form reads 6-7-–-10-2-–, which is not the profile of a horse hitting top gear right now.

West Away is trained by Ian Patrick Donoghue at a yard in Clonalvy, County Meath, and it would be wrong to write the horse off entirely on that basis alone — Donoghue's team has sent out 25 winners this season, so the operation clearly knows how to get horses to the track in winning form. The question is whether West Away can be one of them. In six races alongside regular rider Dylan Kidd, the pair have won once together — a win rate of around 1 in 6, or roughly 17% — which is actually a more encouraging number than the horse's overall record suggests.

Coming back from a three-month break, West Away arrives at something of a crossroads. Horses returning from a rest can go either way — freshened up and sharper, or needing a race to find their rhythm again. At seven years old and with a win rate that sits at just 9% across a career, this is not a horse carrying the weight of big expectations. But in the right conditions, against the right field, there is clearly a race to be won somewhere — West Away has proven that twice before.