Cappa Hill

Both wins have come at Irish tracks in the second half of 2025 — first at Cork in August, then at Tipperary in early October — suggesting a horse that has genuinely found its feet this year. The step up to winning at Tipperary is worth noting too, as it showed the Cork success was no fluke. That said, the most recent form figures tell a slightly more complicated story: since that Tipperary win, there are two eighths in the mix, which hints at a horse that is a touch inconsistent when things don't fall right.

Cappa Hill is now returning from a break of around four months, which is one of the more intriguing aspects of its profile. Whether the time off was planned or precautionary is hard to know, but Sean Joseph Allen's yard in Fermoy, Co Cork has been in decent form this season — four winners sent out — so there is no obvious reason to think anything is amiss. The trainer will have had a reason to freshen the horse up, and horses often return from a rest sharper than they left.

Darragh O'Keeffe has been the regular partner in the saddle, riding Cappa Hill in five of its seven races. Their combined record reads 1 win from those 5 races together — a 20% win rate, or roughly 1 in every 5 rides ending in victory. That is a workmanlike partnership rather than a spectacular one, though O'Keeffe clearly knows this horse well at this point, which counts for something when a horse is returning from a layoff. The key question on the comeback is whether Cappa Hill picks up where October left off — or whether it needs a race to blow away the cobwebs first.