Mr L P Shanahan

The most striking detail in his record is the partnership with trainer Ross O'Sullivan. Twenty-one rides together and not a single winner between them — that is a working relationship that has produced a lot of effort for very little reward. When a jockey and a trainer combine that frequently without a result, questions tend to follow about whether the horses simply aren't good enough on the day, or whether the combination just hasn't clicked yet. At this point, it is probably a bit of both.

The one genuine bright spot in Shanahan's profile is what happens when the weather turns ugly. On very wet, soft ground, he has won 1 from 7 races — a 14% win rate, or roughly 1 in every 7. That is a meaningful number, and it is worth paying attention to. Some jockeys genuinely ride differently when conditions get testing, sitting quieter, managing tired horses better through the mud. Whether that is the case here or simply a small sample of fortunate timing, it is the one area where his numbers stand out positively.

Four years into his career, Shanahan is still at the stage where seasons like this one are part of the education. The dip from 9% to 2% in a single year is steep, and a solitary winner from 44 rides is a tough run by any measure. The question now is whether the wet-ground form is a genuine skill he can build on, or whether the rest of 2025 simply needs to be weathered and learned from.