Get Up Everybody

The recent form tells an interesting story, though. Finishing third, third, eighth, second, third, and fifth across the last six races, there is a consistency here that is almost maddening — regularly close enough to matter, never quite close enough to win. That second place finish stands out as the nearest miss, the kind of run that keeps everyone involved believing the breakthrough is coming. The eighth place is the only real blot, sandwiched between a string of honest efforts.

Jockey David Nolan has been the regular partner through most of this journey, the pair having raced together seven times without a win to show for it. That is a long run of near-misses for any combination, and yet Nolan keeps coming back, which suggests those in the yard at Westow see something worth persisting with. Trainer Paul Midgley has had a productive season — 37 winners sent out this year — so it is not as though the stable is short of form. Get Up Everybody simply has not been the one to add to that tally.

Racing almost exclusively at Class 5 level, which is toward the lower end of the competitive ladder in Britain, this horse has had every opportunity to find a winnable race. Seven attempts at that level, zero victories. Raced just yesterday and still active, the search continues. At four years old there is still time, but the clock is ticking — horses do not get easier to place as the seasons go by. One of these days the form might click, the conditions might suit, and a race might come up just soft enough to let Get Up Everybody do what its name suggests.