Tonaghneave Well

The recent form makes it clear: in the last six races, Tonaghneave Well has finished third once and ninth three times, with a couple of eights mixed in. Nothing better than third. The horse is active and still racing—it ran just a day ago—but the wins have dried up completely. Keith Donoghue, who rides it most often, has won on the horse only once in eight races together, a win rate of about one in eight. That is below what you would hope for from a regular partnership.

Gavin Cromwell's yard at Navan has been sending out winners all season, which speaks well of the trainer's form generally, but Tonaghneave Well has not been one of the beneficiaries. At this stage, the horse looks like a solid lower-level campaigner—reliable enough to get a place now and then, but not one that is going to light up the racecourse. With three wins from twenty races and a long drought since the last victory, it is the kind of horse that keeps handlers and owners hopeful on quiet days, and leaves them disappointed on race days.