Anodandawink

The recent form makes for uncomfortable reading. A third place is the highlight of the last six runs, but either side of that sit a string of fourteenth-place finishes — the kind of results that suggest the horse is competing at a level where it is simply outgunned. Finishing fourteenth in a field is not a near miss; it is a horse that has been left behind, and doing it repeatedly points to a consistent ceiling rather than a run of bad luck.

Trainer Ciaran Murphy, based in Mullingar in County Westmeath, has had 18 winners out of his yard this season, so he clearly knows how to get a horse ready to win. The challenge with Anodandawink is finding a race where the opportunity matches the ability. Murphy raced the horse just one day ago, which shows the team is keeping it active and looking for the right opening — patience and persistence are sometimes all it takes to unlock a horse that has been knocking on the door without breaking through. That said, Anodandawink has not exactly been knocking loudly.

There is always something quietly admirable about a horse that keeps showing up, and with two placed finishes on the board, there is at least evidence that it can get competitive on its day. But until Anodandawink finds a way to turn those placings into a first win, it remains a horse full of promise only in the most optimistic reading of a fairly thin record.