Good Bye Milan

What is striking about Good Bye Milan is the gap between her two wins. Her first came at Wexford back in May 2022, but she did not find the winner's circle again until October 2024 at Gowran Park — a stretch of nearly two and a half years in which she raced 20 times without winning. That kind of drought, for a horse in her late thirties in racing years, suggests she is operating at the limits of what she is capable of. She has placed five times in that period, so she is still competitive enough to show up well sometimes, but winning has become elusive.

Gavin Brouder has been his most frequent partner, but the partnership has not yielded results — five rides together with no victories. Gillian Scott's yard at Ballingarry in Limerick continues to race him, and while the yard itself has won three times this season, Good Bye Milan has not been the one delivering those wins. At her age and with her record, she is the kind of horse that races because she is still fit enough to run and because someone believes there might be one more decent day ahead. Yesterday she ran again. Whether she has another win left in her remains to be seen, but the odds suggest her days at the track are numbered.