Deadheat

The recent form tells a familiar story. In its last six races, Deadheat has finished nowhere near the front — coming third twice and ninth once, with gaps suggesting it didn't even complete a couple of outings. With jockey N McParlan, who rides it most often, the record is equally stark: nine races together, nothing to show for it. The trainer S McParlan, based in Newry in County Down, runs a modest operation that has managed just one winner all season, which gives some sense of the scale of challenge facing any horse in that yard. At thirteen years old, Deadheat is at an age when most horses have long since retired, yet it is still out there racing. There is something quietly determined, or perhaps just stubborn, about a horse and yard that keep trying against such unrelenting odds.