Gert Lush

The key to Gert Lush is distance. When trained over a mile and one or two furlongs — that sweet middle ground, not a sprint, not a slog — this horse has won 2 from 6 races, which works out at 33%. That is a dramatically different picture from the wider career record, and it tells you something important: get the trip right, and Gert Lush becomes a genuinely competitive animal. Get it wrong, and you're probably watching a horse go through the motions.

Both career victories have come at tracks with character. The first arrived at Goodwood in August 2022 — a famously tricky, undulating course on the South Downs that punishes horses who don't handle unusual terrain. The second came at Sandown Park in May 2023, another venue that rewards horses who travel well through a race. Whether those wins reflect a preference for a particular style of track is hard to say with only two data points, but it's the kind of detail a racing fan would file away.

The drought since that Sandown win is now 39 months and counting, with nothing from the last 6 races — the recent form reading 3-8-2-7-11-5, which shows a place here and there but no real threat of a winner. At Class 5, the level where Gert Lush most often competes, the horse has won 2 from 12 races — roughly 1 in 6 — so it's not as if this is a horse being campaigned above its station. The opportunities are there.

Trainer Roger Teal, based at Lambourn in Berkshire, has had a productive season with 22 winners from the yard, so the operation is clearly in decent health. Jockey Miss Megan Jordan takes the ride most often, winning 1 from their 7 races together — about 1 in 7 — a combination that clearly knows each other's rhythms. Whether they can find that winning feeling again before another year slips by is the question Gert Lush keeps refusing to answer definitively.