Denis Gerard Hogan

The form of the last two weeks is particularly eye-catching. Three winners from 19 runners in a fortnight represents a 16% win rate — nearly double his season average. Whether that signals a purple patch or just a fortunate run of fixtures, it is the kind of momentum that matters in a competitive training environment where confidence can feed through to horses and decisions alike.

Hogan has a clear preference for wet, muddy ground, where his runners win 2 in every 13 races — a 15% rate that comfortably beats his overall average. That tells you something about the type of horse he trains and possibly about the way he prepares them. Trainers who perform above their average in those conditions tend to have an eye for the right horse on the right day. Tramore is his happy hunting ground on the track itself, with 3 winners from 12 runners there — a 25% win rate that is hard to argue with. One in four is not a coincidence; it is a pattern.

His most productive working relationship is with jockey J M Sheridan, who has ridden 23 winners from 162 races for the yard — wins roughly 1 in every 7 together, well above the yard's overall average. When a trainer and jockey click like that, it is usually because they trust each other's reading of a race. That kind of consistency is worth more than it looks on paper.

The partnership with The Liffey — 2 wins from 7 races together — is modest in volume but notable for what it suggests: Hogan knows how to place a horse and return to a winning formula. At this stage of a training career, that instinct for when and where to run is often what separates the yards that plateau from the ones that keep climbing.