Crackergee

What is interesting about Crackergee is where he seems most at home. Over distances of a mile and three furlongs to a mile and four furlongs, he has won 1 race from 6 attempts — a win rate of around 1 in 6, or 17%. That sounds modest, but compare it to his overall record of 1 win from 13 races and you can see he is a horse who wants that longer trip to show his best. Trainer Hughie Morrison noted earlier that Crackergee is a half-brother to Kyle Of Lochalsh by the high-class sire Cracksman — which means there is a bit of pedigree behind him — and that he had previously shaped with promise when beaten just a neck at Kempton on the all-weather. A neck is the length of a horse's head and neck stretched forward, so he was desperately close to winning that day.

Morrison trains out of East Ilsley in Berkshire, a yard that has sent out 20 winners already this season, so this is not a small operation. The puzzle for the team is that Crackergee has run six times at the level he typically competes at — Class 4, a solid mid-tier level — and has not won once at that grade. His Ffos Las win came in a softer opportunity, which raises the question of whether he needs to find the right race rather than simply improve as a horse. He is young enough that the answer could still come, and with Morrison's yard in decent form, Crackergee will likely get more chances to find it.