Last Note

Jack Quinlan has partnered Last Note for six of those nine races and has yet to find the winner's enclosure with the horse either—a partnership that, so far at least, hasn't quite clicked. When Last Note steps up to Class 4 company—the kind of competitive races that ought to be within reach—it has managed only those three places from five attempts, never managing to win. The recent form tells a familiar story: a ninth-place finish yesterday, then twelfths, fifths, nines, and a second-place effort before that. That second place stands out as the closest Last Note has come, but it's also a reminder of how the placings have dried up of late. The last six races have brought nothing but a scattering of mid-field finishes, with no return to the frame in the most recent outings.

Cian Collins's yard at Navan is in decent form this season with twenty winners to its name, so there is clearly competence in the operation. But Last Note remains an outlier—a horse that turns up, races honestly, and leaves empty-handed. Whether it will eventually break through remains an open question, but at this stage, after nine races and six consecutive runs without a place, the window may be starting to close.