Some strike rates make you check the numbers twice. Patrick Guilfoyle has sent out 41 runners in the last three months and 19 of them have won. That is a 46.3 percent win rate, and with another 12.2 percent placing, nearly six in every ten Guilfoyle runners have come back with money attached. In a sport where most kennels celebrate hitting 20 percent, that is exceptional.
What drives it is hard to fault: the kennel simply does not run dogs that are not ready. Runners arrive fit, at the right grade, and usually at tracks the trainer knows inside out. Tonight is a case in point, with eight runners split between Tralee and Galway, two venues where the kennel has been busy all summer.
At Tralee, Magical Faye and Magical Marty line up together in the 20:46 A3 over 500 metres, from traps four and five, and Daleroad Magic goes in the 21:21 A2 over 525. The Galway raid is bigger still. Magical Fiona and Magical Be Nifty share the 20:35 over 525 metres, Magical Hope follows in the 20:50, Magical Mag breaks from trap one in the 21:05, and Magical Grayson wraps things up in the 21:50 A2.
Two pairs of kennelmates in the same races is worth noting, as it often means the trainer fancies the race sets up well for his type of dog. A word of caution though: everyone can see a 46 percent strike rate, so the prices on these runners will be short. The form is real, the value may not be.