Back To Cali

The recent form paints a mixed picture. A second and a third in its last two completed runs suggest Back To Cali is in decent enough shape and still running with purpose — those are the kinds of performances that keep a horse in work and keep the team believing. But there have also been a couple of blank runs in there, and no win has materialised across the last six races. Raced as recently as yesterday, it is clearly an active part of the yard's current campaign.

Jockey Mr A Leahy has been aboard for 9 of those 10 races, making him very much the regular partner here — but the pair are still searching for that first win together. It is a long-running collaboration without a payoff so far, though the placed finishes show they are not running out of the picture entirely.

Trainer John Joseph Hanlon operates out of Bagenalstown in County Carlow and has sent out 11 winners already this season, so the yard clearly knows how to get horses to the line first. The fact that Back To Cali has not yet joined that list is not through lack of trying. Sometimes a horse just needs the right day, the right race, and a little bit of luck — and with a trainer in decent form and a jockey who knows this horse inside out after nine rides together, the ingredients for a breakthrough are at least in place.