Gabbys Cross

His overall career numbers are modest. Two wins from 27 races gives him a win rate of just 7%, or roughly 1 in every 14 outings. But the bare numbers don't tell the whole story. His two wins — at Naas in February 2022 and at Galway in July 2022 — arrived within five months of each other, suggesting a horse that found its stride briefly and ran with it. Blackmore won both, and after the Galway success she said he had "relaxed lovely" and done it really well — no small thing for a horse she'd previously described as a handful. When he gets it right, people notice.

That Galway win was now nearly four years ago, though. He hasn't won in his last 6 races, and when tested at the top level — Class 1, the biggest races in the calendar — he's returned nothing from three attempts. At 11, he is deep into the back half of a typical racing career. Georgina Nicholls, who trains him from her yard in Kingston Lisle in Oxfordshire, has had a productive season with 11 winners sent out, and clearly still believes there is something left in the tank. Back in late 2023 she spoke about targeting a qualifier at Punchestown, hopeful he could win off his hurdles mark. He raced just yesterday, which shows willing from the whole team, even if his recent form — two placed efforts from his last six races, with three blank runs in between — suggests a horse that is competitive without quite finding the finishing kick he once had.

He's a horse that demands patience and rewards it only occasionally. But in racing, occasionally is sometimes enough.