Half Nutz

The first win came at Naas in October 2021, and the second, which remains the last, arrived at The Curragh in September 2022. That second victory was now 46 months ago, and nothing since has come close. Recent form reads 9-2-3-5-8-5 — a second and a third in there, which is encouraging in its way, but no win. The horse raced just yesterday and is clearly still a willing participant, which counts for something at nine years old.

The most intriguing — or perhaps deflating — statistic belongs to jockey Adam Caffrey, who has partnered Half Nutz more than any other rider, teaming up 19 times without a single win. Nineteen races together and nothing to show for it is the kind of record that prompts questions neither of them can answer. At the shorter distances where the horse tends to be placed, between five furlongs and six and a half, the record reads 1 win from 21 races — a 5% win rate, or roughly 1 in every 20 races at that trip.

Trainer James M Barcoe operates out of Gowran in County Kilkenny and has sent out 7 winners already this season, so the yard is clearly capable of getting horses to win. Half Nutz, though, seems content to be the horse that nearly does it rather than the one that does. Still racing, still placing, still turning up — there is something quietly admirable about that, even if the winner's enclosure feels like a distant memory.