Thisistheway

The form over those recent six races tells the story: a second place, followed by a fourth, two blanks, another second, and a third. It is the kind of sequence that shows a horse still competitive enough to be in the mix but no longer quite sharp enough to deliver when it matters. That first career win at Wexford back in August 2023 proved the horse belonged among winners, and the Punchestown victory fifteen months ago was the high point — but the gap between then and now is a long one in racing terms.

Trainer Yvonne Latta, based at Enniscorthy in County Wexford, has a modest operation that has sent out just two winners this season. Thisistheway remains an active part of the yard's plans, and with four wins from sixteen attempts, it is not a horse without merit. The challenge now is whether it can rediscover the form that produced that Punchestown success, or whether age and declining sharpness mean the best days are behind it. For a seven-year-old still turning up to race, there is life in the old horse yet — but the evidence of the last year suggests it will need to find something it has been missing.