West Away

Two weeks ago, West Away won at Wexford on August 8th, marking its third career victory and coming after a stretch of races where success had been hard to find. Before that win, the horse had gone through a difficult run: a third-place finish, then a seventh, then a sixth, then another third. That Wexford victory stands out as proof that West Away has not forgotten how to finish ahead of the field, even as it approaches the back end of its racing life. The horse has raced just once since, finishing third, which shows it is still being campaigned regularly by trainer P E Collins at Bessbrook, in County Down.

West Away's best surface is normal ground—standard racing conditions where the track is neither especially wet nor bone-dry. On such ground, the horse has won 2 of its 9 races, a win rate of roughly 1 in every 4 or 5 attempts. That is markedly better than its overall win rate of 1 win in every 8 races. Dylan Kidd, its most frequent partner in the saddle, has ridden West Away six times and won once—a 17% win rate, which hints that the partnership has potential even if the numbers remain small. With three wins from 25 races and still racing, West Away is the kind of horse that keeps its the yard hopeful for the occasional good day, and that recent win at Wexford has given them reason to believe one might not be far away.