Ode To Joy

The recent run of form makes for sobering reading. Across the last six races, Ode To Joy has managed two third-place finishes but also a fifth, a fourth, and a tenth, with the most recent outing — just yesterday — not resulting in a place at all. There is no upward curve here, and at six years old, time is not exactly on its side when it comes to development and improvement.

Gavin Brouder has been the regular partner, riding Ode To Joy in six of those races without a win between them. That is not necessarily a criticism of either horse or jockey — some partnerships simply never find the right race — but six attempts together with nothing to show for it is a hard statistic to overlook. William J McLernon, who trains the horse from his yard in Kilcloon, County Meath, has sent out just one winner so far this season, which suggests the whole operation is having a quiet spell rather than Ode To Joy being singled out as the problem.

What keeps this interesting, just about, is that placing three times from ten races means Ode To Joy is not simply making up the numbers. Horses that place regularly without winning are sometimes described — a little unkindly — as "career seconds", always in the photo but never quite the story. The question for the team now is whether there is a race out there where the class of the field drops just enough for Ode To Joy to finally get its head in front, or whether those three places end up being the best this horse has to offer.