My Good Pal

The numbers are modest: a 4% win rate means My Good Pal wins roughly 1 in every 25 races, and six places from those 27 attempts show a horse that is competitive without quite getting its nose in front. The most recent six runs — two of which resulted in places, with the other four well down the field — suggest form that blows hot and cold. It raced just yesterday, so there is clearly no shortage of enthusiasm from trainer Gavin Cromwell's yard in Navan, Co. Meath, where keeping horses busy and active is part of the operation's rhythm. Cromwell has sent out 96 winners this season alone, which tells you this is a serious, high-volume yard — My Good Pal may be one of the quieter members of the team, but it is in good hands.

Regular jockey Mr B M Coonan has been aboard for 16 of those 27 races and was there for the one winning day at Wexford, so the pair have history. A 6% win rate together — 1 win from 16 races — mirrors the horse's overall record, but that shared success at Wexford matters. Sometimes a horse and rider just click on a particular day at a particular track, and this was that day.

Whether My Good Pal can find the winner's enclosure again is the question. At seven, with a single career win eleven months ago, it is not a horse setting the world alight — but it is still racing, still placing occasionally, and still trained by one of Ireland's more productive yards. Stranger things have happened than a horse like this finding a race it can win on the right day.