Luker's Tipple

The recent form makes for interesting reading: 3-7-2-9-3-2 over the last six races, reading from most recent backwards. Strip out that seventh-place finish and the ninth, and what you have is a horse that has been second twice and third twice in its last six outings. That is a horse knocking loudly on the door. The awkward truth, though, is that zero wins from 18 races is a hard number to look past, and at five years old, the window for turning that around is not unlimited.

What works in Luker's Tipple's favour is the company it keeps. Gavin Cromwell's yard in Navan, County Meath, has sent out 97 winners this season alone — that is a stable firing on all cylinders, with a team clearly capable of placing a horse exactly where it needs to be. When a trainer of that calibre keeps running a horse, it usually means they believe in it. Cromwell does not strike you as a man filling race cards for the sake of it. The fact that Luker's Tipple raced just one day ago and remains in active training says the yard has not given up on finding the right opportunity.

The question that follows this horse around every track it visits is a simple one: is it a horse that places, or a horse that simply has not won yet? Those are very different animals. Some horses find a level and top out at it — talented enough to be competitive, not quite sharp enough to win. Others just need the stars to align: the right race, the right day, the right ground. Luker's Tipple has had 18 chances to prove which kind it is. The next one might finally settle the argument.