Tynamite

Both of those wins have come at Dundalk, Ireland's all-weather track, and that's no coincidence. Tynamite has raced there 31 times, winning twice and placing on numerous other occasions. That level of familiarity with one track is striking — horses develop genuine preferences for certain surfaces and layouts, and Dundalk is clearly where this one feels at home. The most recent of those wins came on 20 December 2023, which is now 30 months ago, so it would be wrong to call Tynamite a current winner. Recent form reads 6th, a non-completion, 10th, 7th, 8th, 7th — a tough run of results that tells you this horse is finding it hard to land a blow right now.

The best version of Tynamite tends to show up on normal ground and over distances of seven furlongs to a mile, where the record reads 2 wins from 18 races — 11%, or roughly 1 in every 9. That's a meaningful improvement on the overall average and points to a horse with clear conditions that suit it. Regular partner Luke McAteer has ridden Tynamite 11 times, winning once together — about 1 in every 11 rides, which is modest but reflects the overall picture honestly.

Trained by David Marnane out of Bansha in County Tipperary, Tynamite races for a yard that has been in decent form this season with 21 winners sent out. Marnane clearly keeps the horse ticking over, and the fact that Tynamite raced just one day ago shows this is still an active, working racehorse at an age when many have long since retired. Twelve is genuinely old for a racehorse in training, and simply being sound, fit and racing at that age is its own kind of achievement. Whether another win comes is uncertain, but Tynamite continues to show up — and at Dundalk, on normal ground, over a mile, the ingredients for one more moment are at least in place.