This Guy

Trained by Daniel James Murphy at the Curragh in County Kildare, one of the most famous racing addresses in Ireland, the horse is part of a yard that has sent out 15 winners this season, so the operation clearly knows how to get horses across the line. That This Guy has not managed it yet is one of those small mysteries that makes racing maddening and fascinating in equal measure. The team will be working hard to find the race that finally unlocks a victory.

The recent form is a little mixed. Going back through the last six runs — the most recent first — the sequence reads 6-4-8 before a couple of blanks and a fifth. A fourth place is promising, but an eighth suggests days where things simply did not come together. Raced just yesterday, This Guy is clearly an active, busy competitor right now, and the the yard will be keen to capitalise on that fitness. At Class 5, the lowest level of competition, the horse is still yet to win from three attempts at that grade, which raises a fair question about whether the right opportunity has truly presented itself yet.

At three years old, there is still time. Some horses take a while to figure things out, and eight places from 16 races tells you this one is not disgracing itself. The challenge for Daniel James Murphy's team is to find the race where everything clicks — the right conditions, the right day, the right moment. This Guy has been close often enough that a first win would surprise nobody. It just has not happened yet.