Ifallgoeswell

The recent form makes for interesting reading. In its last six races, Ifallgoeswell has finished third, second, second, fourth, seventh, and fourth — a sequence that tells you this is not a horse that's stopped trying. Back-to-back runner-up finishes suggest a horse capable of competing at a decent level, even if something — or someone — always seems to edge it out. The seventh-place run looks like the one blip in an otherwise consistent profile. After a short break of 66 days, the yard will be hoping the rest has sharpened it up for another tilt.

Philip Byrnes has ridden Ifallgoeswell in all six of its most recent races, and the pair have yet to win together. That's not a criticism of either horse or rider — sometimes a partnership just needs the right day and the right race to click. The yard itself, trained by C Byrnes out of Ballingarry in County Limerick, has sent out 26 winners this season, which shows there's no shortage of ability in the operation. Ifallgoeswell simply hasn't added to that tally yet.

The honest truth about a horse with 0 wins from 10 races is that patience is being tested. But six placings from those same 10 runs — that's 60% of its races ending in a place — suggests this isn't a hopeless case. It's a horse that runs its race almost every time. It just needs the stars to align: the right field, the right conditions, and perhaps a day when all those near-misses finally pay off. For anyone who backs it next time out, the form says it'll probably be thereabouts. Whether "thereabouts" finally becomes "first past the post" is the only question left to answer.