One Last Tango

Start with the ground. On normal conditions, One Last Tango wins 2 from 7 races — just under 1 in 3, which is a genuinely strong record. On very wet, muddy ground, it is even better: 2 wins from just 5 races, which is 40%, or 2 in every 5. That is not a fluke — that is a horse that has found its conditions and knows what to do with them. The lesson is simple: watch what the weather is doing in the days before One Last Tango runs.

The partnership with jockey Mark Walsh is worth noting too. Walsh has ridden this horse 16 times and come away with 3 wins — a win rate of 19%, or roughly 1 in every 5 rides together. For context, the overall career win rate is 1 in 8, so that difference is meaningful. When Walsh is in the saddle, something clicks.

The shadow over the profile, though, is time. One Last Tango last won at Leopardstown on 27 December 2023 — now 31 months ago — and has gone six races without adding to that tally. The recent form reads 8-–-5-4-2-–, which includes a second place that suggests the ability is still there, but the winning thread has gone quiet. Trainer Eoin Griffin, based in Slieverue, Co Kilkenny, has sent out 8 winners this season, so the yard is in decent enough form — it is the horse itself that has gone cold. One Last Tango raced just yesterday, so it is very much in active service, still being aimed at opportunities.

At eight years old, horses do not suddenly transform. But they can find the right day, the right ground, the right race — and on soft or muddy ground with Mark Walsh aboard, One Last Tango has done exactly that before. Whether it can do it again is the question that makes watching it worthwhile.