Half Nutz

The partnership with jockey Adam Caffrey is the most consistent thread in recent seasons, though it hasn't produced a result yet — 19 races together, zero wins. That's a long run of near-misses and also-rans for the pair, and the recent form doesn't offer much encouragement either. The last six outings read 5th, 8th, 5th, 8th, a non-completion, and 7th — no real flashes of danger, no creeping back towards the front. Trainer James Barcoe, based over at Gowran in Co. Kilkenny, has sent out seven winners this season so the yard clearly isn't short of ability, but Half Nutz hasn't been the horse to deliver those results.

What keeps this story from being purely gloomy is the sheer persistence of it. Sixty races is a long career, and the fact that Half Nutz raced just yesterday means this is very much an active story, not a retrospective. Some horses find a way back. The first win came at Naas in October 2021, the second at The Curragh nearly a year later — so there is a winner somewhere inside this horse, even if it's been quiet for almost four years. Whether it surfaces again is another matter, but Half Nutz is still out there looking.