U Asking Me

That one win came at Clonmel back in October 2024, and it remains the defining moment of U Asking Me's career to date. The trouble is, it was also the last time this horse visited the winner's enclosure, and with 22 months now passed since that day, a repeat is starting to feel overdue. The recent form makes for sobering reading — eight unplaced runs in the last six outings, with only a third-place finish offering any encouragement. For a nine-year-old, the window for adding to a career tally is not getting any wider.

The trainer is Eoin Doyle, based in Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny, and the yard has sent out two winners this season — a modest haul that reflects the level at which this string operates. When Hugh Morgan takes the ride, the numbers are slightly more encouraging: he and U Asking Me have won together once from five races, which works out at a 20% win rate, or 1 in every 5 — comfortably the best return this horse has produced under any partner. The fact that U Asking Me raced just one day ago shows there is no shortage of willingness from the team to keep this horse busy and competing.

What you have here is a horse that earns its keep by finishing in the frame, occasionally threatening to win, and — on one memorable October afternoon at Clonmel — actually delivering. Whether there is another win in it at nine is the question worth asking.