Half Nutz

Those two wins are separated by almost a year. The first came at Naas in October 2021, the second at The Curragh in September 2022 — and that second victory is now 44 months in the past. For context, that is nearly four full years without a win, during which time Half Nutz has raced on and placed ten times but never quite got back to the front. Recent form reads 8-5-8-7-7, which is the sort of sequence that tests everyone's patience.

Adam Caffrey has been the regular partner in the saddle, riding Half Nutz in 19 of those races without a single win between them. That is not necessarily a reflection on either horse or jockey — sometimes a combination just does not click, and sometimes the horse simply is not at that level on a consistent basis. The trainer, James M Barcoe, operates out of Gowran in County Kilkenny and has had seven winners on the board this season, so the yard clearly knows how to get a horse ready to win. Half Nutz, for whatever reason, has not been the one to deliver lately.

What is perhaps most striking is that this horse raced just one day ago and is still active. At nine years old, with two career wins and a last victory nearly four years back, Half Nutz is not a horse chasing glory — but it is a horse still doing the job, still showing up, still running. In racing, that counts for something.