Captain Teague

Those two Class 1 victories, at Chepstow in October 2023 and Newbury in December 2023, arrived in quick succession and announced him as a genuine talent. Nicholls noted after Newbury that Captain Teague travelled smoothly and jumped brilliantly throughout, with jockey Harry Cobden reporting that the horse has a tendency to idle once he hits the front — not switch off exactly, but stop putting in maximum effort when there's nothing left to race against. That's a quirk worth knowing: this is a horse who may be even better than his margins suggest, because he has a habit of doing just enough.

The partnership with Cobden is worth flagging. Together they have won 4 of their 9 races — a 44% win rate, nearly 1 in every 2. That's a remarkably high conversion for any combination at this level, and suggests the jockey has developed a real feel for how the horse operates.

His novice chase campaign last season was cut short when he finished lame at Newbury in November 2024. Fortunately, a walkover win at Exeter just before that setback means he keeps his novice status over fences — a significant administrative silver lining, since it means he can still compete in the most valuable novice chases this season. A scan in September came back clear, and Nicholls has mapped out a route back to racing from January onwards. The trainer speaks of him as a potential "big player" among a strong squad of staying novices, which in a yard that has sent out 92 winners this season is not a phrase thrown around lightly.

One thing Nicholls has made clear is that wet or soft ground matters to this horse. On fast, dry ground the team simply won't run him — welfare first, results second. Get the right conditions, though, and Captain Teague looks like a horse with more big days still ahead of him.