Call The Tune

That single career win came at Navan in February 2022, and it remains the defining moment of the record so far. The problem is that it was 51 months ago, and nothing since has come close to repeating it. The last six races tell a story of a horse that keeps showing up and finishing in the mix — two seconds, a win, then three blanks — but the winning feeling has become a distant memory. To put that in perspective, Call The Tune has gone nearly four and a half years without returning to the winner's enclosure.

Regular partner Michael O'Sullivan has been in the saddle for five of those races and is still waiting for his first win aboard the horse, a combination that has yet to click despite the familiarity. Trainer G Ahern, operating out of Leamlara in County Cork, has sent out just one winner this season from the yard, so this is not a stable in the kind of form that makes punters rush to the betting window. That said, the horse raced just yesterday and is clearly fit and active, which counts for something at this stage of a career.

At 12, horses are not expected to be improving, and there are no signs here that a second career win is imminent. But the recent placed efforts — three second-place finishes in the last six runs — suggest there is still enough left in the tank to make races interesting. Whether Call The Tune can find that final gear and get back to winning ways, perhaps back at a track like Navan where it all came together once before, remains the open question. For now, it is a horse that keeps turning up, keeps competing, and keeps falling just short.