Gonnino

The recent form makes for interesting reading. In the last six races, Gonnick has finished 5th, 4th, 2nd, 6th, 6th, and 2nd — two runner-up finishes sandwiching a couple of disappointing efforts in the middle. The pattern suggests a horse that can get involved when things fall right, but hasn't yet found the consistency to string those moments together. With a race just yesterday, Gonnino is clearly in the thick of an active campaign right now.

Craig Nichol has been in the saddle for five of those races and is yet to get the partnership into the winner's circle, though that is as much a reflection of Gonnino's overall record as anything else. The horse is trained by Gary Rutherford, operating out of Jedburgh in Roxburghshire — a small yard in the Scottish Borders that has punched out seven winners this season, which shows the team knows how to get a horse ready to win. At Class 5, the lowest tier of British racing, Gonnino is already competing at the level where horses like this tend to be placed. Winning 0 from 6 at that level — roughly one win in six would be a normal expectation for a horse operating consistently in the money — means the gap between placing and winning is the one puzzle Rutherford and Nichol still need to solve.

At seven years old, Gonnino is not a young horse still learning the ropes. This is a seasoned campaigner who knows the job. The question now is whether those two recent second-place finishes are a sign that something is clicking, or simply the ceiling of what this horse can do. Either way, with a race as recently as yesterday, the answer may not be far away.