Cruz Control

The headline achievement is back-to-back wins at Aintree — one of the most famous racecourses in the world — in April 2024 and April 2025. These were both Class 1 races, meaning they sit among the very best races run in Britain. Winning one of those is hard. Winning the same prestigious fixture in consecutive years is the mark of a horse who genuinely belongs at the top table. His trainer Tom Lacey, whose yard in Herefordshire has sent out 37 winners this season alone, was candid about what it took to get that second Aintree win. After a difficult period, the team took Cruz Control to the beach, gave him slow work, and even jumped the famous Aintree fences at a schooling ground in Lambourn to rebuild his confidence. It worked. Lacey described him as a big, long-striding horse who can look almost lazy — one stride to other horses' two — but is actually covering enormous amounts of ground with every step.

His partnership with jockey Stan Sheppard deserves its own mention. In 19 races together, they have won 7, a win rate of 37% — better than 1 in every 3 rides. That is not a jockey on a horse. That is a team. Sheppard clearly understands exactly what Cruz Control needs, and the trust between them shows in the results.

Newcastle is another chapter worth reading. Cruz Control has won 3 of his 5 races there — 60%, or 3 in every 5 visits — which is the kind of course record that suggests something specific about the track suits him perfectly. Whether that is the shape of the circuit, the ground conditions, or simply that he has built confidence there over time, the numbers speak for themselves.

He raced just one day ago, which means this is a horse still very much in the thick of things. At nine, with Aintree already conquered twice and a trainer who clearly knows how to keep him happy and sharp, Cruz Control looks like a horse with more to say.