Eye Of The Water

What is genuinely interesting about Eye Of The Water is its Bath record. Two wins from 28 races there might sound modest, but it tells a story: this horse has run at that track twenty-eight times, which means Bath is effectively its second home, and it has managed to win there twice—more wins at one track than in its entire career elsewhere. That last victory, nearly three years ago, came on slightly soft ground, which appears to be the only surface where this horse shows real aptitude. On soft or wet going, the win rate climbs to 22 percent (two wins from nine races), compared to just 4 percent on normal conditions. It is a narrow edge, but in a horse this modest, it is everything.

Ridden most often by jockey Liam Keniry, who has piloted it ten times for a single win, Eye Of The Water has fallen into a pattern of consistency without reward. Recent form shows a string of unplaced and placed finishes with no winners, and the gap since that Bath victory suggests the horse may finally be running out of time. Whether it races again or not, it has done what many horses never do: stay sound and active into its tenth year, even if glory remains stubbornly out of reach.