Homme Public

His last victory came at Doncaster on 13 December 2024, a win that belongs to another era of his career. Since then he has been through a difficult stretch, failing to win in his last six races, though he has shown the grit his jockey Henry Brooke admired—placing second and third at least, suggesting he remains competitive at his level. He has struggled badly at Class 2 level, where he has never won in 14 attempts, a clear indicator that he has found his ceiling and is best suited to Class 3 and below. The Cheltenham race remains a proud feather in his cap, though his co-trainer Oliver Greenall suggested afterwards that Homme Public did not enjoy the ground that day, which makes the victory all the more creditable.

Trained by Greenall and Josh Guerriero at Oldcastle in Cheshire, Homme Public is exactly the sort of horse a busy yard builds its season around: reliable, honest, and capable of delivering occasional upsets when the conditions and the race setup align. The stable is flourishing this season with 43 winners already. The plan is to return him to hurdles before targeting staying chases in spring, races over two and a half miles where his stamina and temperament should be assets rather than liabilities. At nine years old, he is far from finished.